Sixty-five years ago three little kids huddled around a make-shift table in a Humboldt backyard with a simple white cake in the center. Candles were lit and I blew out their tiny flames.
Then, Sarajane, Tony and I dug in. First sandwiches and chips — you have to eat that before cake, Mom declared. By the time we were finished celebrating my birthday on that hot summer day, our faces were smeared with frosting and our tummies were full.
I celebrated another birthday Friday, but not outdoors. Wife Beverly made my favorite, homemade macaroni and cheese, which we consumed while Angus dutifully awaited a morsel or two.
That’s the way it is with birthdays, at least from my perspective. Festive events are for the young. At 73 — and for sometime before — it’s time to mellow out.
Sarajane and Tony were my playmates for several years on East Mulberry Street. She lived directly across the street, Tony’s home was next to hers. Today she is Jane Carder, wife of John Carder, who once was mayor of Iola. He was city administrator in Hesston before retiring to an administrative position with an industry there.
Tony was Edwards then, and goes by Catroppa these days, his birth father’s name. Tony has several restaurants and clubs in northwest Arkansas. You never know what he’s up to. Last time he came to the all-class reunion at Humboldt High, he showed up a little late — making a grand entrance dressed in his biker clothes and dew rag.
Sarajane — it’s hard for me to call her Jane — remains to this day a great friend, as does Tony. A year ago when I had a bit of heart scare and went to Kansas Heart to ensure the ticker was ticking properly, she and John were waiting at the door when I arrived.
That’s real friendship.
At lunchtime, Sarajane stayed behind to keep me company while John, Beverly and others dropped by the cafeteria.
The Clementses, of whom Sarajane was one, were almost like a second family. Hardly a summer evening went back when we all didn’t gather in the yard to chat. And when her mom, Lena, went to the store, she always brought me a treat same as she did with her own small herd of kids.
Lena herself was amazing. I ran onto her once when she was well up in years and for some reason asked if she enjoyed opportunities at the Humboldt Senior Center.
“Why, would I want to go up there with all those old people,” was her reply.
I don’t do senior center either, but it has nothing to do with the folks who do. I just don’t seem to be able to find the time.
