Once upon a time,
(and we all know that many good stories begin with, “Once upon a time,” don’t
we?) my family and I lived in the far northern part of the State of Maine in
the city of Caribou. Though the church
family there was small, the love was large.
For fun, the
ladies of the church had “secret sisters.” Those who chose to participate
filled out forms that included personal information that answered what our
favorites were. The idea was to draw a
name, slip a secret something of encouragement onto a designated entry
table without being seen, and to keep our identity secret for three
months. At the end of that time, we’d
have a gathering to celebrate and tell whether or not we had guessed who had
been leaving the mysterious messages and personal packages.
Over the period
of time I took part, I am unsure whether anyone guessed my being her secret
sister, but I do know I had a very sneaky little one who fooled me not just
once, but twice! The one who had me so
completely baffled was a very sweet teenage girl named Heather Ledford! Heather did everything anyone would do to
keep me in the dark as to who she was, and to this day I smile, as each year at
this time I bring out my very own Jack-O-Lantern pin, a gift from my sweet
little teenage secret sister.
Not only is the
pin dear to my heart, but so too are the memories of those times with Heather
and her family, made even more precious by her unexpected passing on January 9,
2012.
Times and seasons
pass,
but love never fails.
M Sue
October 26, 2012
