Black Jack has been to nursing homes, libraries, women’s shelters. He’s been to the American Royal, and he recently visited kindergartners at Wellsville Elementary School in Kansas during the week they studied the letter “H.” Wherever he goes, people hug him, stroke him, whisper sweet nothings in his ear.
I spent the weekend cutting back the pumpkin patch. It had grown so big that it was in danger of engulfing our home.
No sooner were we all aflutter, what with poems and talismans and money changing hands, than Paisley, Kan., was deflated like a hot air balloon shot by a vintage two-barrel shotgun.
I found Chief Leopard Frog on the porch swing feeding Cheetos to a squirrel. “You’re making his face orange,” I observed.
The year was 1947. I was 4 years old. My mother and I rode the bus from our home in midtown Kansas City to the downtown bus stop in front of Lerner’s department store.
This is a true story and I lived it. In 1914 my folks moved from Kansas City to Johnson County, Kan. They found a three-room house that had no running water and no electricity. They said they would make the best of it.
I’m not very good at estimations, but I reckon I covered about a million miles riding my bike up and down the gravel roads along the river bottom in Tebbetts, Mo., northeast of Jefferson City, in the 1960s and ’70s.
Nichole Baskett gazed wistfully at the cute boy whizzing around the Bannister skating rink and wished she could have him for her boyfriend. It was 1980 and 13-year-old Nichole was too shy to reach out to such a popular boy.
“Who is that woman?” Dan Kennaley asked. It was 1956, and Dan, 23, was an architecture student at Washington University in St. Louis. He was with friends, looking at pictures from a recent party, when a photo of a smiling, raven-haired beauty caught his eye.
Matt Meditz, 27, and Julie Maxwell, 31, had been set up and neither one of them realized it. That February 2005, Matt’s dad, who taught with Julie at Oak Grove Elementary School, had invited Julie and another teacher to participate in his usual poker night. He wanted her to meet his eligible son. But there were so many people playing poker, Julie and Matt didn’t even have a conversation.
Start the countdown. In just a few days, the madcap and marvelous holiday season will be cranked up to full force. This year, as you pull out boxes filled with decorations to brighten winter celebrations, from Thanksgiving all the way through New Year’s Eve, I want to encourage you to sweat the small stuff.
JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS BUREAU/AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE ANNUAL DINNER at the Westin Crown Center hotel. Robert Regnier will receive the Henry W. Bloch Human Relations Award. 913-327-8125.
Here’s some advice if you’re thinking about tromping through a holiday homes tour this year: Dress warmly, go an hour early and stake out a spot at the door to avoid the crowd.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS tour to benefit Johnson County philanthropies presented by Johnson County Young Matrons. Tour homes in Mission Reserve and Pavilions Estates. Two-day holiday boutique Nov. 18-19 at the Lodge at Ironwoods Park. $18 tickets in advance at Hen House and Hy-Vee stores or www.JCYM.net.
After four decades of designer showhouses, members of the Kansas City Symphony Alliance have decided to shake things up for the fundraiser’s 40th anniversary in 2009.
CRATE & BARREL shopping night to benefit Ronald McDonald House, co-sponsored by Alpha Delta Pi sorority. Enjoy drinks and appetizers as you shop. Ten percent of sales go to charity. Call 913-469-5100 for information and tickets.
It seems everyone in town wants to get involved with the new performing arts center under construction in Kansas City.
