2022 Life Logs, Day 228: A Wonderful Surprise
Date: Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 76, Low 63 degrees
Location: At Home in Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Months ago, I was contacted to give a Tuesday Talk at the Cataumet Schoolhouse. Tonight was the night, and I was just not in the mood to do it. But I knew I had to go, so I did. In the 1990’s a group of Cataumet residents turned a neglected 1894 building into a magnet for educational programs and community events. The summer Tuesday Talks are part of that. I arrived, got the technical details set up, and then spent time introducing myself to people in attendance.
A couple came through the door and the woman looked familiar. Suddenly I was thrown back in time and realized it was a teacher from the Concord School District, much younger than myself, that I had worked with 17 years ago. It was Kate Daniels. She has a summer home here on the Cape and saw a sign about the Tuesday Talks. Then she saw the speaker was Judy Handley and knew she had to come. What a wonderful surprise to see her after all these years. Kate reminded me that one of the last times we were together was in New Orleans when I had taken a group of teachers there for a conference. Kate was my roommate, and I spent my evenings studying Morse Code for my upcoming test to get my Ham radio operator’s license. She now teaches at St. Paul’s School in Concord, where Heather and Jed went to secondary school. And she has a husband and brought along her younger cousins to hear my talk.
It made the presentation so much more fun. And afterwards, a woman came up to talk to me that has just moved to Cataumet after living in Honolulu for the last 55 years. She has traveled to many of the places that I highlighted in my presentation and wants to get together to share more stories. You just never know when wonderful things are going to pop up in your life.
It was a day of assessing what clothes the Goldpebbles need for the start of the school year and a trip to Staples to buy school supplies. Tomorrow morning, I have a breakfast date with long-time sailing friends, Jim Hammett and Susie Klein, who sailed into Quissett Harbor today. I am not sure when I last saw them. Maybe the summer of 2019, before Covid. So, I am looking forward to that and then picking up Jonah and Ollie for lunch and a movie date. Sam can’t join us as he works tomorrow.
