Mercy!

Although I’ve never even met Bill Hinds or Glen Lazalier , writing these Heavener blogs and reading the blogs that people from Heavener send, I feel somehow as if I know them. Must be a spirit thing or something.

I’ve known Chuck Hudlow and Bob Collins for a while, at least since the Bob Collins Reunion in Heavener a few years ago. I’ve known of them for years, of course, but had never met Coach Collins until that weekend. And I knew Chuck’s sisters Judy and Pat well. Now that Chuck has retired and moved closer to Cynthia and me, we see him and Maureen more often, not near as often as we would like, though. But we understand that people are busy with things in their own life, just as we are.

I know Pat Burroughs , too, as I see her at church every so often when we got to Heavener to visit Aunt Mable. But, I’m finding out more and more about Bill and Glen in every blog they write. Such as Glen being in the class of ’59 with Cynthia’s brother Jim Wisdom and Bud Thompson, both of whom I’ve known for, well, let’s just say, a long time. Bud lived right behind me and Jim is a Pat Boone-type who never seems to age. Seems Bill and Glen remember each other well from their high school days, from playing football together, if nothing else. They remember certain things about one another, like Glen remembers Bill used the word mercy(!) in his conversations back then.

Bill has used the same term in some of the e-mails I’ve seen, and I think that’s hilarious, and I know Bill’s brothers David and Tim well. David was in the same class of ’65 with me and Tim was a good friend of mine when we were growing up. Tim used to date Cynthia in high school and I’ve certainly found out about his political beliefs through some e-mails. I used to exchange e-mails with Tim, until he one time ‘blasted’ me for sending him what I thought was a comical political e-mail. For that reason, I no longer forward anything that may be of political nature. He has since apologized, but, as I told Cynthia, Tim will no longer receive an e-mail of any kind from me.

I knew Colin Kelley, too, and remember the time he kicked the very first PAT (point-after) in a Heavener football game. I knew his dad George. I never saw his wife Peggy play basketball. Course I wasn’t interested in round ball, either. But Colin and Peggy came back for the Collins reunion.

For all those reasons and from the old HOL days, I knew Colin, Bob, Pat and others would make excellent bloggers.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that everybody from Heavener is special to us. That’s one reason I have no less than 88 names in my ‘Heavener contacts’ e-mail to send obits and other news. All our friends know Cynthia and I are from Heavener and anytime we get to see or hear, or read a blog, from a Heavenerite, we are thrilled. Mercy!