When I wrote the book about my hometown I had the opportunity to get acquainted with a lot of home town people that I had not known when I lived there. Most of the town people who sent me information were older and out of high school before I started my freshman year. Some of the people had jobs in town before I was old enough to take notice.
The saying: people come into our life for a reason, a season or a lifetime could not have been truer when I talked to or emailed people while I was writing my book. Most of them were in my life for a reason and a season while I was writing the book. Some I became acquainted with at that time came into my life for a lifetime and have become friends.
I had Grandparents that I was very close to and I was very close to my parents especially my mom after my dad died. I have a friend near Hutchinson that I talk to almost every day and exchange cards with. All of these are lifetime. Even though I have lost my family members; their influence is still with me.
When I worked with Denise she was the activity director and my boss. She was the best I ever worked with or for. Denise and I formed a united front against the woman who thought she should run our department and our lives. Even with both of us retired now and we don’t get the chance to get together very often, she is still an important part of my life.
I acquired an adopted mother (my amT), that I wrote several stories about. She stepped into the role of mom several years after my mother died. My amT lived at the Towers and we became close when I worked there. Not sure how it happened but it didn’t take long for her to decide that she was my adopted mom and that was the reason she was in my life. Then I added Trouble to the end of it because she loved to cause trouble. She never had children so I was her first when she was in her 80’s.
Some people are email, letters, phone call and card friends but they are all true friends in every sense of the word. Some I hear from once in awhile or when they happen to see a story I have written and they liked it. But others have become friends that I hear from quite often and two I hear from every day.
I talk to one of the hometown ladies every day. She calls or emails or sends a text every morning and every night. We have enjoyed reminiscing about old times in our home town and what is going on in our lives right now. She has actually become more to me than a long distance friend; she is the older sister I never had.
I told her in an email one day that she was my adopted sister. Now when she emails or sends cards to me she signs them A.S. When I send anything to her I sign the same way. She was ahead of me in school and I didn’t have the chance to know my A.S. then. So we missed out on a lot of years that we could have been friends.
I am not sure how much trouble we would have gotten into if we had been friends when we both lived in Mullinville but I bet it would have been plenty. I think she was a trouble maker when she was in school and she still loves to stir things up.
I on the other hand was quiet and shy but would have been happy to join in on anything she’d thought up. OKAY!! So I wasn’t always the quiet shy one when I was in school! But I didn’t cause trouble until I was a senior.
That year of trouble was actually my dad’s fault for moving when I didn’t want to move. We moved to a town where the high school students didn’t welcome anyone new. I was the outsider the whole year I had to live there. I had to make my own fun that year by racing my dad’s Tempest Station wagon and beating every boy and his hot rod in the county.
I wish Mary, my A.S., didn’t live so far away. She lives in Topeka and I hope I will get the chance to go up and see her. I was there in 1968 when I took my Cosmetology state boards. I was also there in the 90s when I worked for a funeral home here. Every couple of months I spent 3 days in Topeka for meetings. If I had known A.S. then we could have had fun in the evenings.
Think about the people in your life through the years. Accept them, treasure them and be thankful for the joy or lessons you received from them while they were in your life…..for a reason, a season or a lifetime. To contact Sandy: [email protected]
