After a couple of dark, rainy days that already had me thinkin’ ahead towards winter, I headed out early on a beautiful late-summer Saturday morning. I was whistlin’ practically the whole way drivin' to load up in Tenino, and then singin’ along (outta-tune of course) with my satellite radio as I headed on across the river into Oregon. I was real happy that I didn’t have a stop in Longview where I would have probably crossed paths with that crabby old loadin’ foreman. Nor sir, I was in too good a mood to even think about him this gorgeous Saturday morning. As I drove in past Pittsburg Road, your pretty little town was just wakin’-up and it sorta reminded me of some of Lorraine's flowers in the backyard this time of year - shakin’ off the dew & raindrops and reachin’ up to soak-in these last few rays of the summer sun. I stopped in for a quick plate of eggs at The Villiage Inn where I sat next to a nice ol’ gal who started tellin’ me about Saint Helen. No…not your town, and not the mountain neither…she was nice enough to fill me in on the Saint Helen. Turns out that she is the patron-saint of divorcees and difficult marriages! I damn near didn’t believe this nice lady at first, but after talkin’ with her a while I was soon convinced she knew all about the Catholic Church and all the Saints and Stations of the Cross and everything else there is to know in that line-a-work. “Saints are the timeless celebrities of the spiritual world,” she told me. Wow! Y’all sure got a lot of real interestin’ people to talk with here in town. She went on to tell me that livin’ here under Saint Helen’s protection might have even helped and guard her own marriage because she and her ol’ man were still in love and together after 30 some-odd years. I told her I hoped that some of Helen’s saintly help might rub off on me & my wife every time I pass through town. Oh yeah…and after I got back home that night, Lorraine asked me to remind y’all that with school startin’ up here next week, to be sure and keep your eye out for the little ones who’ll be out and about again, because they might be runnin’ for their school bus stop in the morning without payin’ no-mind to nothin’ but catchin’ their bus. Be sure and drive slow and keep a sharp eye out for ‘em, and take care of things here in this nice little town y'all got, ya hear?
Tom
No comments:
Post a Comment