Seeing friends you haven't seen ages is a blessing. When those friends are good storytellers, you are doubly blessed. Jim and Nedra used to live near Mum out north and are now in ANC. When we were up there last week, we were able to visit with them both of the days we were in the city.
The first day we stopped by, we met a couple of VERY nice people, Carey and Dawn. Carey (I hope I spelled her name right!) enjoys doing genealogy research and discovered she is a cousin of some sort to Nedra. The craziest part? Mum may also have connections to her family via Norway and Minnesota. I gave her my contact information and some names which may be ones she'll find on her tree.
The second day we visited, Nedra was in story mode. She showed us a beautiful photo from ages past. She is pictured with her two brothers. While we sat listening to her, I was frantically typing notes on my phone-Stories should be preserved and I was bound to keep as many bits as I could!
In this photo, Nedra said her hair was like 'dynel' or plastic. She was 7 years old and the top she had on was yellow with black smocking her mom put on it. She said her brothers were a different kind of trouble (you can see the look in the eyes of the oldest!). Nedra said her parents didn't see what she did, they had to deal with the boys and she often had to sit while those two were dealt with first! She also shared a photo full of young girls. Nedra's leg had a plaster on the front. She told us she had gotten hit by a truck when on her bike and tossed into a ditch of old leaves. There weren't antibiotics and she almost died since her leg was broken badly. She said she was out of school for a year. She told us of a quarry she grew up near that had goldfish in it. Gold fish that eventually went 'wild'!
Nedra also shared stories about one of the first ministers of the Methodist church in Kenai. They were from California, Bob and Norma. Bob played the organ. The dubious part was Norma wore mini skirts and the couple loved to dance! (this was a long time ago, I forgot to ask when...)
We stayed with them for lunch and Jim showed us an Evenson original. He had put squiggles on a napkin and wondered what we saw in them.
All the while we heard more stories. Ones of how they moved their family to Spain for a school year on half salary from the school district and some of the experiences they had. Their apartment was luxury, two pools with the Mediterranean right out sliding glass doors~The neighboring place was where one of the most famous bullfighters of the time lived, although, they never did meet him! Later, Nedra told about cherries she had NOT purchased when they were homesteading. They were $5 a pound and just in from the PNW. She said a well dressed man in a suit came into the store and bought a bag full, because 'he liked them'. Lucy then recalled a cantaloupe she priced up in Nome, it was a ridiculous price! This reminded me of our visit. The lunch special was steak Diane, Nedra said that was just a nice way to say a hamburger with gravy on top. Lucy and I had something from their deli, and it was more than we'd normally have paid. Yet, the food wasn't what we were there for. The soul was fed by the joy of being with these lovely people. As Lucy said, sometimes you pay more for something you truly want. Cherries, cantaloupe, or a lunch with friends.
Nedra said she felt moving to ANC was a good thing to do and that she felt they were in 'the right place now'. She told how she was losing weight and her back didn't hurt anymore due to some advice from one of Jim's physical therapists. She also mentioned their new home didn't have a dress code, she had given Jim a pair of her Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and he wore them!
It was good to see them at peace. I'm incredibly grateful for the chance we had to meet with them once more.
