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One of my best friends, Linda Pedersen, died ten days before Christmas. Her sister gave me a box of her saved papers and pictures recently and I had a walk down memory lane as I sifted through the huge collection of obits, Looking Back columns from the Leader, newspaper stories, and photographs. Besides going all the way through school together, our working desks were next to each other in two separate jobs at the medical clinic on Water Street and the billing office at the paper mill.  We knew the same people and we kept track of all of them one way or another.  I became even more aware of this as I sifted through Linda’s collection and realized I had a lot of the same things in my boxes of treasures to keep.

Every now and again (more often as I age) I look around the house and wonder just what are my kids going to do with all the stuff I’m hanging on to.  An estate sale and donations to Goodwill will take care of a lot of it. They’ll keep a few odds and ends, but there won’t be much to pass on to my friends because most of them are looking to downsize themselves or are already dead like me. I thought about this again as I looked over all the memorabilia that Linda had kept for safekeeping.

I kept the obits that Linda had that were absent from my collection and I scanned in over 150 old Leader photos that I wanted to share on Facebook.  So glad she took the time over the years to cut these out of the paper as lots of folks are enjoying seeing them again.

Perhaps because I’m interested in genealogy, dates of death always jump out at me in obituaries. It never fails to surprise me when classmates or my neighbors die a day apart.  As I studied several of the death notices of people I knew, I discovered how unaware I was of who was related to who. You can keep track of data like that when you grow up in a small town.

Another surprising thing I found was the pictures Linda had of me through the years. I’ve always liked having my picture taken. Why, I don’t know because the photo almost always irritates me and I’m forced to realize that I’m not that good looking.  I very much enjoyed looking at these old photos, however. Mainly because I was thinner and had a lot more hair.  As I studied each one trying to establish where and when it was taken, I also noted the clothes I was wearing and that none are in my closet anymore because THEY ALL SHRUNK! 

A lot of the pictures were taken at the mill.  Good lord!  Now I know why I never rose to the top of the administrative ladder. I was way too busy having fun.  My desk and office walls are decorated with a variety of…. let’s say…..interesting art.  In one picture I’m blowing bubbles; in another I have two straws coming out of my nose. Yep.  Always the adult.  But regardless of the silliness, I was good at my job and I liked it.  The heavier the work load, the happier I was.  And I liked the people I worked with too. That can make all the difference. At one point, I thought I was viewing what might be displayed at my funeral when they post pictures of my life.  It was a strange feeling but I’m fine with it. I always did know how to have a good time.