Hey there all my Doggone Friends (Class of '70 and other scattered mutts)!
It seems to me a crime that we should ageThese fragile times should never slip us byA time you never can or shall eraseAs friends together watch their childhood fly(from "Friends" by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, 1971)
"Fragile times" indeed! Time not only flies when you're having fun, it flies regardless of what is happening around us. Looking back, our childhood did fly, but not any quicker than this year of 2000. It seems like only yesterday that we were anticipating our 30th Reunion being held this year. It came and went as did this entire crazy year. It was an election year, wasn't it?
Since Thanksgiving I have been blessed with cybermessages from many of my doggone friends including Scottini Baker, Clay Wright, Tim McDowell, Martha Conner, Nancy Rhodes, Kay Taylor Brand, Rickey & Kathy Harris, Alannette Hare, Jenetta Ashley, Margaret Ann Gillihan, David Reid, John Purdy, and "first time caller" Sharon Stites. David R. was reading the Miles' Files in Okinawa sucking on a bottle of sake. All these doggone friends and the words you bring me brighten my every day. Thanks so much for sending your thoughts my way.
Just yesterday I was in Little Rock briefly on business and found a fragment of time to drop by Presbyterian Village to visit my tenth grade English teacher (and many of yours), Virginia Umsted Castleberry. We had a delightful time together. She recently had minor surgery to remove a cancer growth from one ear and she is doing wonderfully well. Her spy network is just as good as it was during her teaching days since she knew all about me and the goings on in my life. She would be thrilled to hear from you. You can drop her a card or letter at the following address:
Virginia Castleberryc/o Presbyterian Village510 Brookside DriveLittle Rock, AR 72205
If you are ever in Little Rock with an ounce of time to spare, I encourage you to drop in on Virginia for a memory or two. Time is going to fly by regardless of your schedule, so share a bit of time with a doggone good teacher and a friend. Virginia's influence enables me to write better than I talk and I will be forever grateful.
Today I stepped across the street from the bank to Malone's Drug Store for a burger and fries. Following the March, 1997 tornado that practically destroyed downtown Arkadelphia, the proprietor of Malone's reconstructed his drug store with an "old fashioned" soda fountain like the ones we knew at Headlee's, Grimes' and Shannon-Ritter's drug stores around Newport some years ago. Sitting on the bar stool awaiting my lunch, I watched a young boy about eight slurp up the remnants of a milkshake. My mind turned back the clock and I "watched" many of my doggone friends invade the drug store and crowd together in booths after school. Fragile times are those youthful days.
Earlier this morning, my wife Kathi and I assisted others in readying our church, First Presbyterian, for the Christmas season. Not only did this experience take me back to days gone by and the times many of us enjoyed together at the First Methodist Church in Newport, but it reminded me of just how small our universe really is. In the small group who were preparing the church decorations were three ladies with whom I share mutual friends from the place I call home, Newport. Mrs. Teeta Berry was the college roommate of "Miss Martha" Wise, my kindergarten teacher. Mrs. Mary Ella Clark is the mother of one of Martha Conner's college roommates. And Betty McCorkle is the daughter of Virginia Umsted Castleberry's college roommate. I spent my morning talking with these "new" friends about the "doggone" friends from my childhood. So while the dogs run free after being turned loose by Newport High School, the circle of friends only gets larger through the love and the laughter that you share with others on life's path.
Miss Martha's kindergarten sat right between the apartment building I lived in and Mary Wynne Parker's house on Hazel Street. The latest from North Carolina is that Mary Wynne has successfully completed her first round of six chemotherapy treatments. Provided all other interim tests clear the way, she will begin a second round of twelve Taxol chemo treatments shortly after the first of the year which will be done on an outpatient basis. Your continuing thoughts and prayers are truly appreciated by Mary Wynne and her family. I am certain your prayers have given her much needed strength throughout the last few months.
Well, the Christmas season is upon us and the year 2000 is drawing to a close. Wow! Time does fly away. Don't forget to send those cards and letters (and presents ... after all, it is Christmas). Actually, I ask that you remember the gift of friendship that you have in abundance and share it in thought with those from whom you are separated by time and distance. Indeed, write or call those "doggone" friends you met back in the kennel in Remmel Park. I may be Miles Away, but I am as close as a thought can be. Happy Holidays!
Miles from Nowhere, I guess I'll take my time ...
joe
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