Our day revolved around visiting with Mother’s friend of 65 years, Merle Smith. She and her daughter, Georgia, hosted us for lunch at Merle’s apartment where we spent most of the day and enjoyed a nice lunch and divine homemade desserts.

Merle, 94, and Mother had a terrific time sharing stories about their long friendship: how they got acquainted in 1950 when we moved into a converted horse barn situated down an alley near the basement apartment where Merle and her family lived; who had the smartest cat; and much later, traveling together on tours to Alaska and Germany. It was fun to hear them reminisce and laugh. When Jim was called back to active duty for the Korean Conflict and was sent to Korea for a year, Mother stayed in Greeley with Cyd and me. Since Merle’s husband worked late on Saturday nights, it became Mother and Merle’s habit to take turns preparing dinner for one another and playing games with the kids until bedtime. During Jim’s absence, Mother took a part time job working at an elementary school cafeteria. It was Merle’s idea so that Mother could get out of the house plus have some adult company/conversation. Merle offered to watch Cyd and me while Mother was at work. Mother agreed as long as Merle would take half of Mother’s pay at the end of each week. When Mother went over to drop Cyd and me off the first day, I looked up at Cyd and asked in a soft voice, ” Is it time to cry?”

Our laugh for the day was sending Mother and Merle to bed after lunch for a short nap. They obediently went to Merle’s bedroom to lie down together, talked for about an hour and a half, and came back into the living room to join us as if we hadn’t heard them chirping nonstop.

Our perfect day ended with a short tour of Greeley. I wanted to see the converted horse barn, in particular, and Cyd requested we run by the apartment building where Jim lived with his aunt, grandfather, and grandmother when he was in high school and college. Our last stop for the day was at IHOP for a quick dinner.