HAPPY 21st ANNIVERSARY - SPECIAL TIMES

This week is the 21st anniversary of this column. I joined “Neighbors" on July 25, 2002, at the suggestion and invitation from the Brazil Times.

The reporter came to the little blue house at the end of the road to interview Paul and I about our lives and times and artistic achievements.

Well, thanks to Linda Messmer and Frank Phillips, the gates opened up for me.

I felt guilty when I decided to make this article my own, but I love to write, and local news was not coming in my direction. I decided to move in another direction and still include what I gained from others. Your response and that of the management of The Times cleared the way. It was OK to take the road not taken.

I brought you home to the little blue house at the end of the road. I have invited you into my world every week since, with few exceptions. You visited the Lynch homestead, and I walked you through the simple life we led, the good times, the bad times, and sorrow and pain. You followed me through grades one through twelve and advanced studies.

The open book took you along on dates; I know I was a little stingy on the subject.

A wedding with no guests was sort of “no frills,” so I invited you to the elopement of Paul Baby and yours truly that took place 66 years ago, on November 15 of this year.

You followed me back through the woods on the 40-acre spread. We fished, hunted wild game, picked wild berries, and embraced the seasons. We picked wildflowers and hunted mushrooms.

We plowed, planted, dug holes, and covered them up. We split firewood and set bonfires. The fact is, we were working through a myriad of simple pleasures.

Then we rested beneath the stately maple to watch a proud veteran lower and raise the American flag, the symbol of our freedom. We paid homage to our heroes--the living and the dead, of all wars and service connections. We even visited the gravesites of our loved ones, yours and mine, and others neither knew.

When we became tired of walking and riding through Stringtown to visit old friends of yesterday and today, I showed you around the inside of the little blue house.

You saw a labor of love and a place that I have held special ever since I was old enough to skip next door from my home place.

I told you about my neighbor Mary Gazda Holechko. We sat beneath the giant Catalpa tree and sorted rare coins and stamps, a happy memory. She and I prepared food in her kitchen and listened to Mary Lee Taylor on the radio.

The little girl next door and one of the best pals I have ever had bonded like glue. I poured out my soul to her and sought solace when needed.

Yes, my readers, it is all there; I reckon I haven’t changed much over the years. I rather like the way I go about my life and loves. So much of the good old days is alive, in good order, in my headspace. This writer always saves a place for you at my table.

You fill my cup until it overflows, and I thank you!

What you see is what you get an old country girl with a passion for people, all people, and yes, a passion for writing. I love God and thank Him every day for watching over us.

Brownsburg is the place I live now, but Brazil will remain the place I call home. This year, on November 4, I will be 84. I am temporarily out of steam. I am still thinking about the good old days and think you have had enough of me for now.

I can be reached by phone at 1-317-286-7352 or drop me a line at 649 South Grant Street, Brownsburg, IN.,46112.