When we had finished our time in Seibert, Mom turned to me and asked, “Do you think we could stop in Flagler, CO,  to visit a couple of my friends?”  I replied, “Mom, we are doing whatever you want to do.”  So off we went on I-70 to Flagler, a neighboring town 11 miles away.

The back story.  Flagler was a perennial sports enemy of Seibert when I was growing up.  There is a record today in the Colorado record books of Seibert and Flagler playing football when I was a junior in high school.  It was their homecoming and I still can remember the outcome unfortunately.  103-0.  You heard right.  103-0  As a result of this score, the rules committee put in place a rule that causes the clock to start running continuously  when the score differential appears in a game.  Needless to say, there was bad blood for years between these two towns.

What Mom told me blew my mind as we drove to Flagler.  Flagler and Seibert have now combined their sports teams and are playing together as they compete with other towns in the various sports.  Working together as a team and not enemies?  That would have been unheard of in my generation, but I am so thankful that bygones can be bygones.

Back to the story.  We stopped by Nina Lou Ford’s house to say hello.  Nina Lou was a dear friend of Mom’s and they would play bridge a couple of times a week when Mom lived in Seibert.  There was a car parked in front, but Mom said, “Let’s go in any way because she will want to see me.”  Did she ever want to see Mom.

It was like Mom was royalty.  Nina Lou said that Mom was her favorite person.  They couldn’t stop talking and it was as if neither of the other three ladies nor me were in the room.  Nina Lou and her late husband owned the grocery store in Flagler that we would shop at on a regular basis.  Nina Lou had since turned the store over to her son Tony whom I had played football with on the non forgettable night.

The other three ladies who were playing bridge  that day wanted to know if Mom would be okay if they came to Colorado Springs where Mom lives now and bring their bridge cards up to play with Mom.  She was humbled that they would want to do that.

On this journey it is important to continue to cultivate friends new and old.  You could tell that Mom had a significant impact on them and could tell the love they had for her.  Today might be a good day to stop by one of your old friends and say hello.  Who knows what might happen.