Tuesday, September 21, 2004
LIFE UP TO THE END OF MAY....1979
Winter finally gave way to better weather after February was over. Uncle Alfred had a bad spell with pains in his chest in March and we went to Mountain Home to visit him in the hospital. After observation for a few days they decided it was his cold that was causing the chest problems and he was released to go back to the Nursing Home. March is his birthday month so after checking on him a few times we took him to dinner to celebrate.
In April we drove to Bolivar to load up some of the things John wanted to move home. May would be graduation and time to move out of the dorm. We brought a car-full back with us so there wouldn’t be so much to bring on the next trip. The 19th of May was graduation day which was an even 30-years to the exact same day…. from the time I graduated high school. Mom, Warren and I drove up early so we could have a good seat in the Field House. George Jr. came from Shawnee but we didn’t find him until after the ceremony.
Afterwards, we regrouped and then went for dinner. John went back to Shawnee with George when we finished eating and we all said goodbye in the parking lot. Chris had gone with us to eat and he was going to be leaving to join the Air Force. We never saw Chris again but John later told us he had heard from him and he was flying the huge cargo planes of equipment to troops all over the world. Steve and Belinda went to a pastoral position and John was in the process of deciding where to go next.
For the time being he was going back with George to perform the marriage ceremony for his boyhood friend, Doug Fowler. The boys had grown up together, living across the street from each other, and John was happy to be doing the service for him. John returned a week later and got settled in for the summer. He rode his Honda up to our friends, the Ross’ who were moving to West Plains. Warren drove the car up and helped all day as well. We hated to see them go as they had been like family to all of us and living 25-miles away would make it less accessible to be together as much as we had been in the past.
John has written about his strong friendships……and friends have always been important to all of us. There are many definitions for friends but no one can really get a grip on just what it is that makes or keeps a friend. Many folks are charismatic and can attract people instantly but then when the initial acquaintance is made, they fade away. Other people aren’t as good at impromptu introductions but they “wear on you” as mom used to say….and over the long haul they are faithful, supportive and enduring as long as they live.
It is always said that you can usually count your friends on one hand. If you have the total number of “five”…consider yourself lucky. I think making a friend is best when we accept them for who they are and don’t wear them out with being together too much. Grandma Bond was a wise lady who we accepted as our Shawnee grandma. She was older and her family was on each coast so it was impossible to do any grand-parenting with her own grandchildren. She needed someone to give her love to and we needed her wise council and cheery visits. I loved the way she would laugh and throw her head back in merriment. She was a mentor for me and a delight to our children. One time she said, “If you don’t eat your friends up….you won’t have to spit them out.” Familiarity breeds contempt, in other words.
Our friends who lived across the street from us were friends of a different kind. Rosalie was younger with two small children. Being the elder….I took on the roll of big sister and tried to pass on all the good I learned earlier from mentors of my own. We have lived apart for more years now than we lived across the street from each other but phone calls, emails and letters have flowed through the years to keep our friendship constant and real.
Granny Bond lived long enough to see her dear husband go before her and later she moved into a high-rise elder assistance complex. To her very last, she played the piano in the lobby to the pleasure of the folks sitting around and listening. Her letters were of good cheer and she never counted herself out, even when the end was eminent. A letter was my last contact with the dear old friend.
As for Rosalie and her family, they no longer live on 65th Street, as I mentioned earlier. Gene retired some years ago and they moved back to Emporia, Kansas where they were raised. Their children were married and they immediately took up the cares of their elder family. Medical visits of all kinds, taking in every stray dog and cat that came to their door, cleaning up an overgrown family cemetery and working on genealogy took up their days. They have made a life out of helping others in time of need. Over the years we have grown closer than ever as time ticks off the calendar pages of each month. Age has a way of delivering advance notice that we need to love a lot and care a lot. The day looms ahead on some distant vista of time when we can no longer commune with our friends, here. From time to time I will tell you about some other friends of ours.
While it is today and while we are able….we need to let them know how blessed we are to call them………“friend.”
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
In April we drove to Bolivar to load up some of the things John wanted to move home. May would be graduation and time to move out of the dorm. We brought a car-full back with us so there wouldn’t be so much to bring on the next trip. The 19th of May was graduation day which was an even 30-years to the exact same day…. from the time I graduated high school. Mom, Warren and I drove up early so we could have a good seat in the Field House. George Jr. came from Shawnee but we didn’t find him until after the ceremony.
Afterwards, we regrouped and then went for dinner. John went back to Shawnee with George when we finished eating and we all said goodbye in the parking lot. Chris had gone with us to eat and he was going to be leaving to join the Air Force. We never saw Chris again but John later told us he had heard from him and he was flying the huge cargo planes of equipment to troops all over the world. Steve and Belinda went to a pastoral position and John was in the process of deciding where to go next.
For the time being he was going back with George to perform the marriage ceremony for his boyhood friend, Doug Fowler. The boys had grown up together, living across the street from each other, and John was happy to be doing the service for him. John returned a week later and got settled in for the summer. He rode his Honda up to our friends, the Ross’ who were moving to West Plains. Warren drove the car up and helped all day as well. We hated to see them go as they had been like family to all of us and living 25-miles away would make it less accessible to be together as much as we had been in the past.
John has written about his strong friendships……and friends have always been important to all of us. There are many definitions for friends but no one can really get a grip on just what it is that makes or keeps a friend. Many folks are charismatic and can attract people instantly but then when the initial acquaintance is made, they fade away. Other people aren’t as good at impromptu introductions but they “wear on you” as mom used to say….and over the long haul they are faithful, supportive and enduring as long as they live.
It is always said that you can usually count your friends on one hand. If you have the total number of “five”…consider yourself lucky. I think making a friend is best when we accept them for who they are and don’t wear them out with being together too much. Grandma Bond was a wise lady who we accepted as our Shawnee grandma. She was older and her family was on each coast so it was impossible to do any grand-parenting with her own grandchildren. She needed someone to give her love to and we needed her wise council and cheery visits. I loved the way she would laugh and throw her head back in merriment. She was a mentor for me and a delight to our children. One time she said, “If you don’t eat your friends up….you won’t have to spit them out.” Familiarity breeds contempt, in other words.
Our friends who lived across the street from us were friends of a different kind. Rosalie was younger with two small children. Being the elder….I took on the roll of big sister and tried to pass on all the good I learned earlier from mentors of my own. We have lived apart for more years now than we lived across the street from each other but phone calls, emails and letters have flowed through the years to keep our friendship constant and real.
Granny Bond lived long enough to see her dear husband go before her and later she moved into a high-rise elder assistance complex. To her very last, she played the piano in the lobby to the pleasure of the folks sitting around and listening. Her letters were of good cheer and she never counted herself out, even when the end was eminent. A letter was my last contact with the dear old friend.
As for Rosalie and her family, they no longer live on 65th Street, as I mentioned earlier. Gene retired some years ago and they moved back to Emporia, Kansas where they were raised. Their children were married and they immediately took up the cares of their elder family. Medical visits of all kinds, taking in every stray dog and cat that came to their door, cleaning up an overgrown family cemetery and working on genealogy took up their days. They have made a life out of helping others in time of need. Over the years we have grown closer than ever as time ticks off the calendar pages of each month. Age has a way of delivering advance notice that we need to love a lot and care a lot. The day looms ahead on some distant vista of time when we can no longer commune with our friends, here. From time to time I will tell you about some other friends of ours.
While it is today and while we are able….we need to let them know how blessed we are to call them………“friend.”
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
