FRIENDS

One of the great joys of traveling is meeting and getting to know new friends.

A greater joy than that is reconnecting and spending time with life long friends.

When Shelley was born in Oklahoma City in 1954 her family lived on a street where the baby-boom was in full explosion mode. In a half of a block there were 34 (give or take a kid or 2) children under 5 years of age. There were many strong bonds of friendship made among the many parents on the street and M.A. and Jack Hannifan, who contributed 3 children to the total, were some of Shelley's parent's best friends. 

Before too long most of the families on the street had dispersed not only to other parts of Oklahoma City but, as in the case of our family, had moved out of state. In all the intervening years many of the families stayed in touch. Even after the death of Jack Hannifan in 1985 and M.A.'s remarriage to Neil Osgood in 1989 and the death of Shelley's mom in 1995, M.A. and Shelley's dad stayed in touch.

Last summer when we had a memorial service for Shelley's dad in Oklahoma City, M.A., her daughter Brooke, and Neil drove up from Dallas for the service. It was wonderful to see M.A. and Brooke after so many (I hate to admit it) decades and to meet Neil. It was then that I realized that M.A. is the last surviving parent from the Andover Court crowd.

M.A., Neil, Brooke
June 2012

I did not really get a chance to visit with M.A. last summer so when we were planning this summer's trip one of the priorities was a stop in Plano, TX. We spent Tuesday evening with M.A. and Neil and had a wonderful time. The talk was non-stop and although we did not come close to getting all caught up on what has gone on and is going on and will be going on, we were able to make a dent in it. As too often happens when I start visiting with folks – I forget to break out the camera. This time I only remembered as we were getting in the car to leave.


Neil and M.A. Osgood

Neil, M.A., Shelley

Our hope is that before too long M.A. and Neil will come visit us in Bay Saint Louis.

Movin' on West.