When I was eleven years old, we moved to Webster, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester. I was to be in the sixth grade that fall. The primary school, junior high school, and high school were all in one huge building. I was terrified of that big building! I just knew that I was going to get lost in there and never be found.
Our teacher’s name was Mrs. Smiley. And that’s exactly “WHO” she was! She smiled a beautiful smile and my fears didn’t dissipate, but they were alleviated. I was sure that as long as I was near Mrs. Smiley I would be okay.
Then, I met a classmate. Her name was Carole. She had big, blue eyes, curly blonde hair, and the sweetest disposition ever. Not too long after, Carole invited me to sleep over on a Saturday night. Carole had a younger sister but she didn’t spend much time with us. Carole’s dad was tall and handsome with dark curly hair and blue eyes. Her mom was short, vivid, and always seemed to be in the kitchen making wonderful food and treats for us. My parents had divorced when I was six years old and at this time I had a stepfather that I did not get along with well. So, it’s hard to express how much I enjoyed being with her family.
Sunday morning we were up for an early breakfast and all went to the Baptist Church for Sunday school and church. When it was over, we went home to Carole’s for Sunday dinner. In the afternoon, we would go out to play and Carole’s dad would come out and play with us. He could throw a ball higher than I had ever seen anyone throw it and the whole neighborhood of kids would scramble to catch it as eventually it made its way back to earth.
As fall turned to winter, the pond froze behind Carole’s house. Then, when I slept over we would go ice-skating on the pond and her folks would bring out hot chocolate and build a fire to roast hot dogs and to warm up by.
During summer vacations, I didn’t stay in Webster. I spent the summers with my grandparents in Kentucky. So, I missed Carole during summers.
In the spring of 1956, we moved from Webster, N.Y. to Los Angeles. It was Mother’s Day, 1956 that I saw Carole for the last time. I felt very sad and yet excited to be moving to California. I was thirteen years old.
I never heard from Carole again. As years went by I tried to find her but was never successful. Then, on Mother’s Day, 2006 she found me through the internet, fifty years after we had last seen each other! And she found me even though I am on the opposite side of the world from her, in China!
Carole sent me photos of our old homes that are still there, and doing well, and a photo of her. She still lives in Rochester, N.Y. and is a wonderful artist of watercolors and oils and a special engraving technique that only she, of all American artists has been trained for and that training was done in Austria. She also told me that Mrs. Smiley, our sixth grade teacher was still alive and living in Arizona!
How wonderful it is to have her in my life again!
