Warm sunny days help us dry out from last week’s torrent. They help us lift our spirits as we lift our garden tools out of the shed again. Battered daffodils still show their lovely faces to the sun, even as they are replaced by the yellow polka dots of dandelions in our lawns. Sun in our faces help dry the tears as we empathize with the storm victims out west and in the deep south, earthquake and war victims, victims of poverty and neglect the world over, and as we mourn our own hard losses. It is true that the longer we live the more people we know who are no longer living. Each loss is weight. We say to each other, “Keep your heart light,” knowing that is not easy to do. We may linger over the long list of loved ones and dear ones who have left us with memories of themselves and the part they shared in our lives. Lucky are we to have our lives still going on and to have them filled with dear ones still. “As the life of a flower, as a breath or a sigh, so the years that we live as a dream hasten by.” Laura Newell (1854-1916) wrote that old hymn and many others and was described as a very modest and unpretentious lady, who went about her daily work as cheerfully as her poems advise others to do.

Cheerfully, we acknowledge the birthday of Skyline 8th grader Jhonn Phillip Rhodes on April 1st. April 4th is for Skyline first grader, Frederick Smith. The 5th is for Madelyn’s mom, born in 1984, and the 6th is for Beverly Coffman Emory, “born to be wild!” Just ask her. Bud Hutchison was born April 8, 1935. He was a farmer and trail ride boss whose trail rides are still going on, though he went on in 2018. We miss him but still have smiles and many good stories associated with him. Skyline School’s superintendent, Donnie Luna, and special education teacher, Mrs. Mayberry, will both have their birthdays on Easter Sunday this year. Happy birthday to all of you in a beautiful time of the year to celebrate.

Back in 2002, the Herald printed weekly installments of “The Black Kettle Ride” by Cinita Brown, which had been published in 1997. Lorene Johnston cut them out of the paper and pasted them in her notebook. It took 26 pages. The story is about Tom Brown and his two newborn twin daughters as they join other pioneer families traveling by wagon train from Indiana to Missouri in 1844. The book is still available from various sources online, but the yellowing newspaper print adds something. Pasted next on the last page we find a “Thank You” from Logan and Cinita Brown for all the kind attention they received in honor of their Golden Wedding Anniversary. Lorene’s handwritten note said they were marred in 1952. Her papers are proving to be a gold mine. The Grand Old Opera, the Wagon Wheel Bluegrass Park and the Pioneer Descendants Gathering are all featured among them. Our own piles of paper accumulated over decades are calling on us to sift, separate, save and disperse. We should have done that last winter. It is spring now.

We keep some good songs in our heads as we go on about our daily work getting the garden ready. School is resuming after a break and there will be music there. Students, teachers, and staff are all working hard and learning. Merchants and farmers are doing what comes next in their busy days and we all do the best we can to stay optimistic as Champions—Looking on the Bright Side!

Facebook