~it all started at Ulrey's corner~

Good morning dear friends and family from the south central part of the great state of Kansas!  It's early, even by my standards as I type these words to you from the small town of Haven.  What a blessing it has been to be able to spend time here with dear family members who have graciously allowed me to lay my head down on the pillow each night after I've finished working at my house back in Hutch.  To my sister-in-law Paula and nephew Christopher, I give you thanks for the kindness you have shown me always.  I miss my dear brother Mike but I feel his spirit here in this town and even in this very room that I am calling mine for a few days more. 

I'm down to the last three days to be here and the time has gone so very, very fast.  With each day that approaches the weekend, I can sense that the time in the hourglass is running out a pace more rapid than even I would have figured.  The house is getting emptier all the time and that is a good thing. In all of the many trips that I have made between Montrose and Hutchinson, I have always managed to take a car load full of stuff back each time and this trip shall be no different.  I smile at the things I find as I am cleaning here, items that never actually made the journey at first but now will be going with me.  My mom's canner that she bought out of the Montgomery Wards catalogue, now 30 years back, will be riding "shotgun" beside me in the front seat.  The last deck of Rook cards that she bought to play her favorite card game with us all has been tucked into the glove box of the car.  In the basement I found yet another box of neatly labeled packages that contained greeting cards that I have received over the years.  They won't be left behind any longer.  What I couldn't take back with me this time was placed into storage here in town and the stuff that I no longer could see to keep was recycled into the hands of other friends and family members.  It was good to let it go to them.

This will be a short blog post because the day ahead is a long one.  I woke up at 2:30 and just couldn't get back to sleep.  My mind is full of a thousand things and when your mind is full then sleep is a little on the tough side to find.  As I have realized many times during the course of the last four years of blogging, sometimes when my mind is heavy with the concerns of the day the very best thing I can do is get my fingers on this keyboard and type away until I have talked out life for a bit.  Then things look better :)  I think that the clock says 3:30 so I am heading back to sleep and catch a few minutes more rest before my alarm says "GET UP" at 4:30.  God is with me here and everywhere else for that matter.  I'm going to be just fine.

From Haven, Kansas where every school morning in my youth, my little sister and I walked from our family's restaurant all the way, miles and miles, to school each day.  (ok, ok it was really only 8 blocks but when you are a kid it surely seems different)  We would cross the street from the highway at the corner where the Ulrey Family lived and just keep on heading north until we made it to school.  All along the way, even walking by ourselves, we were safe and sound.  This is Haven, a place where truly every single person takes care of one another.  As for me, whenever I am asked in this life where I hail from, the answer shall always remain the same.  My hometown is Haven, Kansas. 

Have a great day everyone out there!  Be at peace with life and those that are around you.

From long, long, long ago.  These two sweet little children were the first two kids that I ever babysat for here in Haven.  Now they are adults with nearly grown children of their own.  Babysitting for the Price Family on a Friday or Saturday night was about the best thing you could ever get to do.

I grew up in a place that was quiet and peaceful.  A place where every single adult in town watched out for all of the kids that lived here, ALWAYS.  If you should make the mistake of getting in trouble at school or anywhere else in town for that matter, you didn't have to worry about telling your folks when you made it back home.  They already knew about it, long before you had the chance to fess up about it. 

Haven, Kansas brought these two kids from the land of long ago and far, far away together nearly 40 years after the fact.  I miss that guy and it's time to head back home to the mountains and to him very soon.