[Magdalen] Little Michael visited by The Past.

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Great story! fun memories too!!
Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck
 "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk 
by Richard Rohr

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From: "M J [Mike] Logsdon" <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2015 3:52 PM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: [Magdalen] Little Michael visited by The Past.

> I was piddling about the laundry room today when I saw a woman walking 
> around carrying and studying a clipboard.  I didn't even bother to 
> remember that a local school board election is upon us in November, so all 
> I could think was Religious Freak.  But she was wearing ordinary weekend 
> clothes, not the Mormon-JW-Holy-Roller attire.  As I pass her and walk 
> toward my apartment, I was about to turn around and say "Yes?", when she 
> beat me to it and asked if I was related to Kenny Logsdon the retired 
> fireman.  I said "And who's asking?"  "Janet Barnes."  She didn't need to 
> say more.  "Yes, Janet, I'm Little Michael.  You once gave a nine-year-old 
> me a huge box of used stamps for my stamp collection."  The conversation 
> blossomed from there.  She's running for elementary school board 
> re-election (a contentious race; she survived a near-recall a couple years 
> ago), but the joy was about how she is the daughter of the man who is the 
> reason I live in Salinas.  In 1950, David Hamilton (her dad), Salinas 
> painting contractor, hired my pop out of El Centro to come work for him, 
> and work for him he did till 1969 when Dave died of lung cancer at 52 
> years of age.  So devoted was Pop, that he did for Dave what he did just a 
> few years later for his own brother, that being coming home from work each 
> day, taking a bath, getting dressed in his Sunday best (which was always 
> in optimal condition because he never went to church), and heading down to 
> the hospital to sit by Dave's bedside till visiting hours were over. 
> Though only four years old, I still remember clearly one night Pop opening 
> my bedroom door and saying "Dave died."  Though not family, Dave Hamilton 
> was my first taste of death.
>
> Anyway, me and Janet had a grand ol' time sort of reminiscing (I was a 
> toddler and she was a high schooler, after all), but she got a kick out of 
> how I remembered visiting their home as a little kid and remembering the 
> high school girl in her bedroom listening to her 45s (some of which I 
> still own, believe it or don't), and especially remembering how her mother 
> would throughout the ages periodically visit our home unannounced with her 
> cats-eye glasses and holding her purse on her lap the whole time.  (The 
> Old Lady only checked out a few years ago at 97.)
>
> Two children of modestly well-known Salinas families meeting up outside an 
> apartment complex laundry room.  And yes, I always vote for her.