JJ and I gathered a bag of clothes for the 17 year-old to wear to school and some tops and coats and purses for Tracy. We even found a coat for the little one. We would love to do more. We would love to love. JJ did not even know Pamela, Tracy's cousin who made the call for aid. It was enough that Pamela was from Lincoln. It didn't hurt that her daddy had been fire chief at Eastaboga Fire Dept. Families come together in time of need.
I was reminded of a girl named Amy who moved to Lincoln when we were all in middle school. She was Anita's and Angie's cousin from a broken home in Texas, You wouldn't know it to meet her. She always smiled. She always listened. She always loved with her whole heart. She was not at all self-centered. She offered a hug to everyone she knew.
Back when we were kids we all new each other from a very young age. We spent weekends together on the football field: players, dancers, cheerleaders. White, black, boy, girl. In the off-season we spent the weekend at each other's houses. It was nothing to lounge around Sunny's house with Shannon and Bobby and Sunny and eat fried bologna sandwiches and watch Saturday morning cartoons. We went to church together. We played on the playground together. Loran would join the girls in the song games that we played and he learned the dances and cheers that we knew. He took them to the football field. He was so full of team spirit. He is still is full of school spirit over 20 years after graduation.
It was common place for me, Jason, Dwayne and Eddie to sing together while tailgating on the trunk of Jason's car or in the choir or from the third pew from the front of the church. We were always found together at school with Ginny and Shaye at lunch period. Everyone who saw one of us associated each of us with the others. There was always someone there in the wings when one of us was sick or lonely or hurting.
Tuesday nights at my house were no different. Ginny and I would cook spaghetti for Kevin and Derrick and we would all hang out together watching TV and cutting up. We even threw a birthday party once for Jason and once for Angie. I think my mom favored Angie, who came over with Katherine on weekends and ate all the pickles in the house. She always ate like she was starving! LOL.
Amy taught us to show each other how to love. She taught us that to greet someone was to hug someone. We took that lesson with us. It drove the teachers crazy, but we were all always hugging each other in welcome. And years later we still do.
Our spouses may not understand. Who is this person my husband is hugging so tightly that I only met 15 years ago one time?? It is who we are. We don't go home and hold secret conversations you know nothing about. We just love each other. Like family. We always have. I will hug one of my classmates...Black, white, boy, girl with love of family.
Years later, we may differ in opinion on political issues, but the love remains there. WE ARE LINCOLN. We are the old-school Lincoln. The Lincoln with values. The Lincoln who loves our community and wishes to go back to the old ways when the band and the cheerleaders led the crowd in support of the football team, and we all hugged each other hello and goodbye. It is our heart that made this community great. Shannon and Bobby and Loran are all coaching a new generation of Lincolnites. I have brought my own back to share in the tradition. Our head football coach is from this old-school. Brad is doing an outstanding job leading our youth. Prayers are with him and all the other teachers who are Lincoln grads trying to make a difference in our community.
And this morning when I met Pamela at the Dollar General to share what little we could come up with for her cousin....I hugged her. We are Lincoln.
No comments:
Post a Comment