CLAY AND WATTLES

Things People Do to Connect

Two or three weeks ago Maggie asked me to go her picnic, "On May 3," she told me. It rained yesterday and was cloudy today and damp, but Shane came to my office around 11 this morning and said he was going to the park at Caldwell. "They're having a shortened version of the picnic," he said.

So I escaped work for 30 minutes! I went to see Maggie and made a few pictures of her and the kids having a great day out. (Maggie is 3rd from the end on the right.)To them the trip to Caldwell probably seemed like a fairly long trip, and I'm sure the teachers and parent-helpers were just as happy they didn't go to Village Creek Park. Each class had on different colored t-shirts (hers was orange); some tables were aleady seated, and some kids were still flitting around getting ready to sit down to their sack lunches. Maggie is sort of shy, quieter than her younger sister who is 3, but smiled widely when she realized I was there. I ran into Beth from down our street, and Patricia from Sunday School class. It lifted my spirits after waking up with the same sinus headache I went to bed with! By this time the headache had finally gone, but it was so nice to be outdoors during the workday and see other people from Wynne!

At 3:30 I left for a hair appointment. At 5 Paul and I went to Stella's retirement reception. I told him later that although I don't want a reception, other people might wonder why I didn't have one. (See there I go, wondering what other people think.) Well, I mean, it is nice. Stella's was nice. Richard and Rachel's were nice. There were a lot of people there and it just has to be a great feeling knowing you're wished well by so many friends. I know that. But I think I'd rather not. Maybe a quiet lunch. I think a reception would be too emotional for me. I'd rather quietly just go home as if it were any other day.

It's nice to be recognized or to recognize others - kids with picnics; adults with receptions. Friends are one of life's greatest treasures.