Megaphone -- Page 6

Was just sitting here thinking about all the friends that I have.

They say if you have just two true friends in your lifetime that is something to be proud of. I feel very proud of all the friends (more than two) that I have. Our lives seems to separate and then some years later we pull back together as if the years have never happened.

For example, the first people we camped with was Danny & Leth McFall in 1979. Danny died of a heart attack and we kind of lost track of Letha. Then in 1997 we bought a 5th wheel and at the time I was working at Huntington Bank. Letha brought a deposit in from Ford where she worked and we was talking about camping years ago. I told her we was camping again and she said her and her husband (Bob Hinds) had a camper and we should start camping together. We met them at Walnut Ridge campgrounds one weekend and we hadn't even introduced Leon & Bob but when we went out to eat the two guys hit it off like they had been friends forever. It is really neat to look back to all the good times you have had with different ones and the ones that has come back into your lives.

Also not to forget the good friends that has left this world to go to a better place but we still remember them thru something they used to say or somehow the way they touched our lives and hearts. Just remember being a good friend sometimes is the very thing that saves a life. Have you ever called a friend that was really depressed and not knowing that you did it maybe you said that one thing that brightened their day or maybe saved their life. How depressed can a person become before they think a bad decision can be a permanent solution to a temporary problem? We will never know.

Just remember to always listen when a friend (or stranger) wants to talk to you. You just never know the life you might touch by just being you and listening to them.

From a Friend,

Shirley (Fite) Dellinger '54

I have a cousin who I am very close to. She was a single mother for several years and my husband and I helped her out all that we could. She had three sons and was preparing to give birth to a forth child. I was with her through the labor and delivery and was able to cut the cord when her daughter was born. I liked her sons well enough but when that baby girl was born I knew I loved her almost as much as if she was my own child.

In February of 1995 we were living in Ocala, Florida, and I found out that my daughter was going to have a son. From that moment on I worried if I could really love him. I knew that I would like him. After all he would be my grandson, but could I actually love him? I like my nephews and my cousins sons but there is no deep love for me with any of those boys.

I agonized for months over what I was going to do. How could I hide my feelings from my daughter? How could I get over this feeling that I might only like my grandson but not be able to love him? I even tried buying baby items for him but just did not get much pleasure out of shopping for a boy. I was to the point that I thought I was a terrible person because I did not think I could love this new addition to our family.

May 22, 1995, I was visiting in Indiana when I got a call that even though my daughter was not due until July she had went into labor and things did not look good for her or the baby. I talked to the doctor and told me to get there as soon as possible because we were going to lose either one or both of them.

My plane landed in Gainesville, Florida, at 5 pm and I took a taxi to the airport not knowing what situation I would find as I had not be in contact with my husband or a doctor since 10 am that day. I was shown where my daughter's room was and was devastated when I first saw her. She was very pale and I just knew I was going to lose my only child that night and all I could think about was that it was just because she was bringing a boy into this world. I have to admit I was upset at the baby, not my daughter or her husband. The doctor decided at 8 pm he was going to take her to surgery immediately and I told him to save my daughter no matter what. My husband and I spent one and half hours waiting and pacing. The doctor finally came out and said they were both going to be fine and we were relived but I was still wondering about how I was going to love that baby.

Finally the father came out into the waiting room on his way to the nursery and had a bundle in his arms. He came directly to me. I took my finger to push back the blanket to see the baby and the baby grabbed a hold of me like he was hanging on for life. At that moment I knew I loved my grandson more than words could describe and I would love him unconditionally forever.

When our grandson was seven months old my husband and I found ourselves having to take him and we adopted him when he was 20 months old. He turned nine years old on May 22 and I could not love him any more if I had given birth to him myself.