Interesting Visit

Thursday before coming to work I dropped by my former sister and brother-in-laws house in order to finally do some fact checking for a story I'd written almost a year ago. All summer I had intended to visit my ex - Jan - but had held off as I'd never met her husband and she would freak out and make a big fuss. Her sister Lynn and hubby Terry were happy to see me and we caught up on the news of the last few years. We've run into one another occassionally around town but hadn't had a sit-down talk in a long time.

Eventually Lynn asked what had prompted the visit so I told her about the story I'd written (for this blog and Kel's contest at thexfacta) about their parents - Ernie and Marian. I handed her a print-out of it and let her read it through without interruption. When she was done she said that, in essence, I had it pretty straight except for a couple of details but that it was a highly idealized and romanticized version of the story. "What on earth possessed you to write about them after all these years? They were just ordinary folk who lived regular lives!"

Ernie, Marian, Jan and I spent a few years living under the same roof and in bits and pieces I got snippets of their story - a little here on one occasion; a tad there on another. Overall, the two of them had quite an impression on me and for very different reasons - perhaps because they were so unalike in temperaments and outlook. I didn't feel they were ordinary or regular. They gained a special place in my heart and I valued their support and friendship. Still miss 'em.