Life's Interesting Twists

When I was 10 yrs. old, my oldest sister, Margaret, wrote our mother asking if one of us kids could come to Cincinnati to help her. She had recently given birth to her first child. While he was doing well, she remained weak.

Mom decided the helper would be me. I was thrilled. We left Washington, IN on a Greyhound bus arriving in the Queen City late in the night. We were greeted by a city filled with lights and sounds. What a contrast to our quiet rural life. It was love at first sight for me.

Enjoying every minute of city life, I dreaded returning to the farm. Each Thursday I walked down the street to the pharmacy for what was my first taste of lime sherbet. I was addicted.

When summer ended and school was about to begin, Margaret and her husband, Pete (who was a University of Cincinnati engineering student at the time), drove me back to southern Indiana. I did not shed a tear until they left the farm to return home. I wanted to go back with them.

54 years later: I now live in Clifton. The house where my sister lived is only a few blocks east on Ludlow near Burnet Woods park (where we strolled baby Don in his carriage). I can walk there. The pharmacy is now the home of Skyline Chili which happens to be a favorite eating spot. The stone firehouse across the street from Skyline remains the same as well as the Esquire theater and other landmarks.

It took fifty-four years to come full circle, but I made it. I love it now as much as I did then. The only thing that makes it better is having our son and his family around the corner. God is good!