Considering Caldwell

        

 Just in this past spring Benny and I walked through the lovely park surrounding Indian creek in Caldwell Idaho. We had her husband and kids with us as we order coffee drinks from The Bird Stop right there in the downtown area. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking the pathways and bridges of that newly remodeled area. "It's crazy that we move away and Caldwell becomes beautiful!" I said as the kids and I skip over big rocks laughing. Benny walked on replying back "Yet it will always still be just Caldwell to me." I jumped down beside my best friend smiling big with my arms wide open "But LOOK! it NEVER looked like THIS when we were young hanging out at Penny-wise drug!" Benny and Matt both laughed and shook their heads at me as I raced the kids across the bridge of fast moving creek. Coming together this evening and hanging out in such a fun place while awaiting the sadness of the next day when they had to lay to rest Benny's father. I hugged the kids as we walked together and I kept reminding myself not to be so goofy or playful that the respect of such sadness in them loosing their Grandpa to a long battle with cancer wasn't avoided. I enjoyed seeing everyone and having the time to just simply be with them! Benny told her husband how she and I were driving through Caldwell a few years back while they doing all this construction through town and we got so lost! Benny exclaimed "WE, We got LOST in of ALL places...CALDWELL!?!?!" I was laughing in remembering that time when we both stopped to look at each other in alarm as we didn't recognize anything around us I had exclaimed to her "Didn't we grow up HERE??? How could we NOT know where the hell we ARE!" Benny laughed till she had to wipe her eyes as she caught her breath stating "It's just Caldwell! What happened to US?" Memories and moments like that give us such a sense of adventure and going through the years of change together makes a good friendship!

In Indian Creek park just
 7 months ago we were all together considering the changes of Caldwell Idaho, we were reminiscing and joking around. We were saying goodbye to John Totter whose home was there and whose life was all around us! Caldwell is still on the move heading to the future and yet I am still swinging over the water hanging on to the light post chatting with my best friend......in my memories we weren't doing much just being outside in the sense of sadness and of lost......the reality is now we aren't ever going back to leaning on the bridge looking out over downtown Caldwell with all our senses of a shared life!