Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Special Day for a Friend






Laura, here's a virtual flower for you from the Lovestead.  To a friend who is just as beautiful inside and out as this delicate spring blossom, I wish the happiest of birthdays.

When there's a bond of friendship dating back to even before we both can remember, when we're both a couple of town kids turned country, when we pretty much paralleled each other in educational journeys from our start at Lincoln School to our days at the University of Idaho, when we were 4-H'ers together, Pep Club members together along with a whole lot of other school affiliations, I'd say we put down some major glue for a lifelong friendship.

Laura and I don't see much of each other these days as we live miles and miles apart, but regardless of the distance and the years, we'll always maintain that special connection which began oh-so-long ago. 

Twould be nice to sit down and enjoy a good visit, and Lord willing, that will happen again one of these days. 

For now, just know that I think of you in a series of nostalgic vignettes:  

----hanging out in the yard, the woods and along Sand Creek at your farm when the Delamarter family moved out to our North Boyer countryside to put down roots on the Pennington place.

---sitting beside you on the benches at the old Sandpoint Junior High each noon hour as you ate part of your cold lunch and I ate the rest.  

Nobody made bread or cinnamon rolls like your mom, and since you ate like a bird and I ate like a horse, none of Eleanor's baked goods ever went to waste when I was around. 

---climbing in that old gray and black (I believe) Chevy sedan (Delamarters liked Chevy's while the Tibbs/Brown family preferred Fords).  

You were my taxi to all the extra activities offered during our school days, and you lived farther north than we did, so, of course, you had to stop at our house on the way to town and pick me up.  

---Grad Night in Spokane where we (Lee, Laura, Ray and Marianne) dined at a Denny's Restaurant with a really wobbly table.  We were all home by 2 a.m. while most of the rest of our class reveled all night at the Elks party.  We, of course, thought we needed to do something different. 

Those are just a few of the memories, Laura, which also do include Thursday evenings when you, your mom and dad went off to choir practice at the Presbyterian Church while I stayed at your house and babysat (?) Frank and Marie.  

I don't know really who did the sitting as I organized basketball games in the Delamarter living room and tried over and over each week to bang out "Moon River" on your upright piano.  As I recall, the "C" key had a little corner of ivory missing.  That's how I knew where to start every song. 

For anyone who doesn't know, what is so great about my friend Laura is her faithful posting on our class Facebook page of upbeat thoughts for each our classmates who have been turning 70.  

Well, today's your day, Laura.  I don't have anything profound to say other than to wish a good, longtime but NOT OLD friend the very best.  

Thanks for your friendship and thanks for all those good memories of you and your wonderful family.

Happy Milestone Birthday, Laura. 

On another note, I want to remember our mutual friend and classmate Andrea who would have also been 70 today.  

Andrea, you are not forgotten, and, as with Laura, I treasure many memories of some wonderful moments spent with you.  Thinking of you and hoping you're having a wonderful celebration in your heavenly home. 

Happy Wednesday. 


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for your kind words. I love your remembering because they bring back precious memories from way back then. I do think of Andrea each year, too. I probably told you this long ago, but the hospital nurses took Andrea to my mom and vice versa. The mom's picked up on the problem right away. That's what moms do, for sure. They know their own. I'm sure Andrea is knowing of the birthday wishes for her, too. Love you, Marianne.

Marianne Love said...

I did not know that, Laura. I 'll share it with Kris, Andrea's daughter.