Roses and Stories

While Elaine was a lunch today with High School friends, I did some yard work and got this picture of our blooming rose bush. I used the search block at the top, left corner of the page and found that I had written on the “Last rose of Summer” in 2011 and the “First Rose” on June 9, 2014. So, I will change the subject and tell of an interesting coincidence that arose at coffee this morning. There was some mention of a lady planning an around the world boat trip. I mentioned that our oldest son had built a couple small sailing boats in Richmond, VA and had figured out how he could navigate all the way from Richmond, VA to Seward, NE on water with some motor assistance. One of our morning coffee drinkers grew up in the same neighborhood with a lad named Paul who did take such a trip after he retired up in Minnesota. It seems he took a boat down the Mississippi to the Gulf, up the East coast and through the Erie canal to the Great Lakes and back home. Now the coincidence: I worked for Paul’s Dad back in 50’s, and we would get our families together occasionally. Our son was always fascinated by a picture of St. Paul, MN, showing a bridge over the Mississippi River and learned to say, “St. Paul” when at the Grandparents house where the picture hung. Paul was 4-5 years older than our son who insisted in calling him “St. Paul”. Now after all these years I learn of those 2 boys having some thoughts in common. We lost track of the family by moving away, Paul’s Dad dying with a brain tumor, Paul and his 2 brothers all left the area after college, and his Mother also succumbed to a brain tumor after some 15-20 years  of widowhood; all before we got back to Seward.