Forrest Gump said his mother told him that "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get."

That pretty much sums up my latest trip to Chetola for a seminar for lawyers and paralegals this past weekend. Hearing stories of surviving three bouts of cancer and no one thinking one lawyer would even be here to dealing with hosting and paying for a wedding to take place next Saturday, to confronting three large bears to worrying about one's career, this time we had it all.

And to top it off, Chetola did not have a record of my reservation on one of their busiest times of the year. But everyone remained calm and through the day and a room move or two, it worked out with Chetola acting at their best.

But at first, it was not guaranteed.

This weekend and this podcast is about life, and how these people deal with it. It isn't always perfect, but it is full of grit and reslience.

Built in 1915 to support a railroad line from Abington, Virgina, to the North Carolina mountains, the hotel thrived for over a half century as the hub of West Jefferson, located in Ashe County in the northwest part of the state.

In 1977, due to the closing of the railroad and bus lines, the hotel was forced to close its doors for about 50 years.

Bought in 2019, Mark Beck and his family began a 5-year journey to restore the hotel to its former prominence and grandeur.

Opening its doors to the future in July of this year, this is the story of one family's persistence and the resilience of an old hotel. Mark and his daughter Lily have given a new meaning to the words "grit" and "resilience".

Complete with pictures, this is their story of the restoration of a landmark.

In the late spring of 1956, Wake Forest College moved from the town of Wake Forest to Winston - Salem and a new campus. Most of my friends were children of faculty members as was I, as my dad was the Chaplain of the school.

Many of my friends stayed behind, and I lost contact with them. But in a twist, this past week I had lunch with one of them again, a person whom I had known since the first grade, and he told me about others just like him that I had known all those years ago and what had become of them and the lives they had lived.

It made me think about friendships all the more, and so this podcast is about friendships, new and old, the grit and resilience of having them, and how they enrich our lives.

From the random meeting of someone who works in a grocery store to someone you meet in a courtroom or school, life is about making and collecting new friends.

I hope you will enjoy it and this week, make at least one new friend.