Tuesday, November 30, 2004
SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER....1984
Mom and the Powell’s had been visiting at Blair with other family and came home in mid-September. They had been staying with aunt Mary in the Stricklett home on “the hill.” Mom looked tired and worn out….even though enjoying the trip immensely. I fixed dinner for them as uncle Tom and aunt Inabelle were leaving the next morning for Virginia. It would be another year before we would see them again.
My friend, Rosalie, called from Shawnee to tell me Margaret Laricks died of cancer after a long fight. The Laricks were the standard for the neighborhood. I mentioned before about their son, Jimmy, being ahead of George and John in Scouting and was a standout both there and in his high school. He was the boy that did it all. He had a great personality and participated in sports, Scouts, school …president of his class and overall Representative for the students to the faculty. He was a straight A-student and in the National Honor Society. Boys of every age looked up to him.
Jimmy went on to Annapolis and served his time in his chosen field….the submarines. Jim Sr. and Margaret were understandably very proud of him. He came home, married and excelled in business with a drive to succeed. His older sister, Myra, was predisposed to be very different. She had a carefree, happy personality and never knew a stranger. Unlike her brother, she was satisfied to squeak by with her grade average and never stayed with projects or goals if they became boring. She danced in plays and literally danced through high school and college. Jim Sr. would shake his head and grin….then say, “I would always ask if she could bring her grades up like her brother…and then she would dance around a little and tell me…..but Jimmie can’t dance.”
Jim and Margaret loved their kids and put every opportunity before them. Myra eventually married and had one son, whom they all idolized. He was a sharp little kid with the Laricks personality. I wrote before that he was playing in his back yard when a run-a-way car crashed through the hedge and killed him instantly. The tragedy was overwhelming for Myra and she signed up to teach school in Taiwan….she and her husband had divorced. That was the last I knew of Myra. Her father, Jim, died in bed at home a few months later. He could not overcome his grief and his many heart problems finally took his life.
Margaret stood up to all of the grief and carried on. Then later, was diagnosed with cancer. She fought a long battle and was a great encouragement to all of us. She certainly made death work to wear down her determination. I have no further knowledge of the Laricks family….but I will say this. Anyone who has ever known any of them has been blessed. We are all better for having known them.
Life brings many people into our lives and if we slow down long enough to get to know them….we are the better for it. I think the worst detriment to making, having and keeping friends is…that no one has time for them anymore. My friends have always been important to me…right under my family in priority. The friends I had years ago are still my friends today….we live apart but we have not grown apart. It takes work to make and keep a friendship as it does to make and keep a good marriage. However, it takes two people working on both ends. Over the years I have lost many friends to ill health, accidents or death. We cannot change their journey….we can only make it better while we are here.
My mother had a verse that hung in her bedroom many years….it said, “Give me my flowers while I live for I shall not pass this way again.” If you have friends, give them a flower today….if not….go out and make one. Then give them a flower. As Martha Stewart would say, “and that’s a good thing…….”
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
My friend, Rosalie, called from Shawnee to tell me Margaret Laricks died of cancer after a long fight. The Laricks were the standard for the neighborhood. I mentioned before about their son, Jimmy, being ahead of George and John in Scouting and was a standout both there and in his high school. He was the boy that did it all. He had a great personality and participated in sports, Scouts, school …president of his class and overall Representative for the students to the faculty. He was a straight A-student and in the National Honor Society. Boys of every age looked up to him.
Jimmy went on to Annapolis and served his time in his chosen field….the submarines. Jim Sr. and Margaret were understandably very proud of him. He came home, married and excelled in business with a drive to succeed. His older sister, Myra, was predisposed to be very different. She had a carefree, happy personality and never knew a stranger. Unlike her brother, she was satisfied to squeak by with her grade average and never stayed with projects or goals if they became boring. She danced in plays and literally danced through high school and college. Jim Sr. would shake his head and grin….then say, “I would always ask if she could bring her grades up like her brother…and then she would dance around a little and tell me…..but Jimmie can’t dance.”
Jim and Margaret loved their kids and put every opportunity before them. Myra eventually married and had one son, whom they all idolized. He was a sharp little kid with the Laricks personality. I wrote before that he was playing in his back yard when a run-a-way car crashed through the hedge and killed him instantly. The tragedy was overwhelming for Myra and she signed up to teach school in Taiwan….she and her husband had divorced. That was the last I knew of Myra. Her father, Jim, died in bed at home a few months later. He could not overcome his grief and his many heart problems finally took his life.
Margaret stood up to all of the grief and carried on. Then later, was diagnosed with cancer. She fought a long battle and was a great encouragement to all of us. She certainly made death work to wear down her determination. I have no further knowledge of the Laricks family….but I will say this. Anyone who has ever known any of them has been blessed. We are all better for having known them.
Life brings many people into our lives and if we slow down long enough to get to know them….we are the better for it. I think the worst detriment to making, having and keeping friends is…that no one has time for them anymore. My friends have always been important to me…right under my family in priority. The friends I had years ago are still my friends today….we live apart but we have not grown apart. It takes work to make and keep a friendship as it does to make and keep a good marriage. However, it takes two people working on both ends. Over the years I have lost many friends to ill health, accidents or death. We cannot change their journey….we can only make it better while we are here.
My mother had a verse that hung in her bedroom many years….it said, “Give me my flowers while I live for I shall not pass this way again.” If you have friends, give them a flower today….if not….go out and make one. Then give them a flower. As Martha Stewart would say, “and that’s a good thing…….”
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
