Dear Reader:

Yesterday I told you I was off again to Mt. Pleasant to spend the night with Miss Eva Cate and take her to the Boone Hall Pumpkin Patch. We had so much fun! It was exactly the memories I wanted to create and share with my one granddaughter.

It got off a little shaky….Eva Cate was running a low-grade fever and had a little health issue pending beneath the surface…but she rallied Monday morning and decided that no matter what… she wanted to go and play with her classmates.

The problem was ….that after we got there and headed to the hay  ride…she didn’t recognize but a couple of younger students who went to her school… no one around was in her class. Two boys were pushing each other and knocked her over before the truck (pulling the hayride) even pulled up for us to get on…things didn’t look like they were going to “abode well”…but after a quirky start…it all turned out wonderful.

…Because Eva Cate found a friend…not a just a friend from her class but one of her best friends-after riding the hay ride the first time around. She was Isabelle! I love watching little girls this age meet with kisses and holding hands…precious!

Oh what a difference a friend makes in life’s greatest enjoyments! (And having Carmen, Isabelle’s mother, to share the day with had the same effect on me…watching our children and grandchildren enjoy Halloween at a pumpkin patch is marvelous…and snacks taste better when shared together.)

The first hay ride was fun…the second was squealingly better with two voices screaming in excitement. . They both sang the “Ghost of John” (they had learned at school)  and it was only then that the wind picked up and sent the ghosts flying through the trees….”John” followed them thereafter…oh…it made for a spooky encounter.

Sliding by yourself is okay…but together with a friend…no comparison!

Posing for your grandmother “Boo” is okay…but jumping with a best friend is deliriously more fantastic! (What is it about watching children jumping that reminds the child in us of by-gone, carefree days of pure joy!)

Watching Eva Cate and Isabelle today reminded me of how important friendship is…we all need to remember to hold hands, jump with happiness, scream together through life, and slide through the “down” periods together. (Always keeping an eye open for ghosts of the past who want to bring back unpleasant memories…instead we must continue forging ahead with smiles on our faces.)

We let the girls pick out one treat to leave with…and we all departed with a bag of cotton candy and a bag of priceless memories.

The title photo comes from Mandy’s front porch….while we were out lighting the pumpkin….Jakie crawled over to the storm door with Tigger and peeked through the glass to see what we were doing. Boo Jakie!!!!!

Jakie loves story time before bed….especially when it is about a little ghost named “Boo”!

So until tomorrow….”Make new friends but keep the old…one is silver and the other’s gold.” (The best treasure in the world!)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Today is going to be my “R&R day…. a little overdue….I have thank you’s to say and write, many more catch-up correspondence notes to attend to….so it will be a “PJ” day to sit in the sun on the back deck and soak up the sun and think about the friends in my life who make me and my life better for their existence.