The other Larry

I felt instantly at home during my second job interview at LDS Family Services that included one of our supervisors, Larry Lewis. He has a passion for his work, loves to engage and teach people, and has a very scintillating, colorful past which he remembers in amazingly vivid detail. Occasionally he will wander into the office and tell us stories about what he calls his "hippie days" of hitchhiking and asking existential questions about the meaning of life with friends and co-workers over the years. He was in one of these moods when he heard "Bridge Over Troubled Water" playing in the waiting room. After praising that song, he began to tell me what a prolific poet Paul Simon is, and how meaningful his songs have been to him over the years, especially "The Boxer"--which is one his favorites. Then he began to softly sing the song, word for word to me, sprinkling in little explanations after each stanza as I sat at my desk:

"I am just a poor boy 
Though my story's seldom told 
I have squandered my resistance 
For a pocket full of mumbles such are promises 
All lies and jests 
Still a man hears what he wants to hear 
And disregards the rest 

When I left my home and my family 
I was no more than a boy 
In the company of strangers 
In the quiet of the railway station running scared 
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters 
Where the ragged people go 
Looking for the places only they would know . . . 

His voice broke a bit, and tears came to his eyes. I was touched the sweetness and trust that he had to share this with me. It was a very intimate moment and the words stayed with me until I could listen to the song on the bus ride home. I have the feeling that there is a lot more to learn from Larry. In fact, that day I had a glimpse of the many ways that Larry Lewis reminds me of my own Dad--maybe enough that I could elaborate on in a future post. Although Dad is physically inaccessible to me now, he is ever present in my thoughts and throughout my day, thanks to Larry.