~it's the town that raised me~

It's a quiet New Year's Eve night here.  The sound of the football game on television and the humming of the washer is about as loud and noisy as this house will get.  No wild parties here, that's for sure.  I long ago gave up the notion of staying up until midnight to usher in the next year.  I figure I'll meet it when I wake up in the morning.  

Not like it is going anywhere or anything.

2016 marked our first full year of living here on the plains of Texas.  It's been quite a year for us both.  The good Lord above is the only one who knows what lies ahead.  Here is hoping for us all that things improve or at the very least don't get much worse.  Stick together family and friends, stick together.  

For some reason tonight I have been thinking of my hometown back in Kansas.  Every once in a while I get that way and I always know it because I feel this little tug at my heart.  It was a wonderful place to grow up in.  Haven, Kansas is my hometown and I will always love it.   I have lived in other places but none is as special as Haven is to me.

We were back there not even a month ago and on the way home we drove through town and looked around a bit.  Some things never change about Haven and I am always happy for that. Still other things look new or certainly out of place from where I remember them being.  I should be happy for that too, for it shows that the town is alive and well.  Lots of good people, "salt of the earth" kind of folks live there.  They would do anything for others, without a doubt.  
I go back there as often as I can.  Sometimes it is for no more than a drive down Kansas Avenue or a quick trip over by the high school, but still I go.  I left many dear friends back there, ones that I have been blessed by knowing.  They are all tucked deep into my heart and there they shall always be.  

You know, if I could give a wish for the new year upcoming to that little town, it would be that everyone would be ok and that when I came back it would always be there to welcome me home.  It's a very special place.

It's the town that raised me.

Long before the acronym "BFF" was thought of, this group of kids were just that.  We are members of the class of 1973.  3 years ago we all got together in Haven for our 40th class reunion.  It was so good to see everyone once again.  I'm glad that we grew up together and even more glad that it was in Haven, Kansas.  Love you kids all!