Mo (The Twins)

I count the seniors in our class as some of my closest friends – that, I think you know by now. But there’s this whole other layer of friendships that has been growing in our classroom – among the seniors themselves. In the previous blog post, you saw what Hazel wrote. And now, here’s Mo thanking “our” twins Beatrice and Bernice for reaching out to him. I just thought it was so nice of Mo to write this. Since joining the class months ago, he has become one of our most fervent and regular attendees, and has invited a number of his friends to join us as well. The cycle of friendship goes on and on. It’s just the world’s sweetest thing to witness.

Mo McCooper
March 18, 2010
The Twins

Almost two years ago, I joined the Philadelphia Senior Center on Broad Street, south of Lombard to enjoy the daily hot lunches at a generous discount.  Each day, I would search for an empty table to set my tray on so I could focus on eating!

The various members are fun to kid with.  A set of twins can break my stones any day but as they are lovely ladies, they take it easy on me.  One day after I had lunched, Beatrice took my arm and said, “You are a veteran and you’re coming with me upstairs to the auditorium.”

Volunteers introduced some veterans of World War II – each of whom spoke a few words.  It’s been very rare in my life that I have “choked up” or suppressed tears.  When my father died unexpectedly when I was 17 years old, I was so angry at God that I didn’t cry at the hospital or services.  However, I had good emotions while listening to the veterans and thinking of my uncles Tom and John and friends who had served in World War II.

Following some wonderful entertainment and a few more thoughts from veterans of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, we had coffee and treats on the stage and I met a tall strong well ribboned Marine who happened to be one of the sons of Beatrice on leave from Afghanistan and/or Iraq.

Months later, when Bernice took my arm after lunch and told me I was going to be a visitor at the “Writing Class”, I could not resist the charm and power of the lovely twins of Broad and Lombard Streets.