A couple of weeks ago, I received an internet message from Greg Bateman of Loogootee, Indiana who, among other things, does a podcast called ‘meet you Indiana neighbor’. His primary focus for guests on this show are residents or former residents of Loogootee. Even though I now live in Indianapolis, I still fit that description and I believe that he contacted me because of my being a former columnist for the Loogootee Tribune.

I accepted his request and arranged to meet at the library in Loogootee on April 5th. The next couple of weeks were spent thinking of my life in Loogootee and the things about that time that might be interesting. By the time I finished that, I had a long list of experiences and as it turned out, too long.

Tuesday of this week, we packed up and made the 100 mile, two day trip from our home in central Indiana to Loogootee in southwestern Indiana. When I was young and courting Susie, I made that round trip in a day and a couple of times, I even made it twice but not any more. I can’t just jump in the car and go; a trip like that takes a lot of preparation and I don’t move as fast as I used to.

I was pretty nervous about doing that interview; I also wanted to talk to some of my high school classmates to firm up some things about life in the mid 20th century that I found hard to believe occurred back then. Chief among them was the fact that, for all intents and purposes, we went barefoot in the summer. Even though I still find it hard to believe, a dinner with classmates that still live in the area proved that this was the truth.

Greg proved to be a great host. He made me feel very comfortable and the nervousness soon disappeared. We talked for about an hour and a half; I enjoyed it immensely and it was only later on our way home that I realized I never talked about some of the things on my list. Most of that stuff is contained in my books anyway so it’s documented somewhere for my children, grandchildren and whoever else might be interested in learning about.

Later in the day, while making our way north through a driving rainstorm, it occurred to me that I really missed communicating to people -it just seems like there isn’t time anymore -, and I resolved to use this medium to try and do a little more of letting our friend and relatives how we’re doing in this stage of our lives. I used to visit this this site frequently but the last several years, I have neglected to do that, finding it easier it easier to just use Facebook when I had something to say.

I vowed to post something I find interesting on a regular basis here. Let’s see how that plan works out.