July 31, 2018 – “I recognized you by your voice!”

         On my hardware store trip early this morning, I had a delightful surprise.

         “Teri, hey, how are you?”

        

         I turned and had to crank my neck up to look at this tall man. Probably in his forties, wearing a ball cap and only his eyes were familiar.  He gave me a hug before my mind clicked into over drive.  Whom have I not seen in a dozen or so years that I might not recognize?  His voice, his laugh, his familiarity with his unabashed hug and lingering arm around my shoulder, brought forth his name from the depths of my memory.

         “It’s Kenny . . . Kenny Hopkins!”  I whispered into his neck as he hugged me again because I actually identified him.

         “It’s been – what 20 years easy?” he drawled in a pleasing way.

         I pulled off his ball cap wondering if he had hair and I was surprised it was a thick mass of greyed hair. 

“You’ve got hair!”  I said.

“Yeah, I got hair,” as he put his ball cap back on. Last, I saw him he had a crew cut and I think it was red.  Twenty years ago he was also skinny, mostly elbows, and knees. The decades had filled him out.  But, he just kept laughing that I recognized him. 

         “Gosh,” I said, “I can’t believe I got your name!  Your kids must be in college.”

         “Becky is.”  He answered with a smile.

         “How did you recognize me?  I know I must have changed, you sure have.”

         “I was in the next aisle and I recognized your voice.”

         “Did you really?”  That surprised me. “Was I assertively questioning the store clerk as I usually do?”

         “Yeah, you haven’t changed a bit.”

         I asked about his wife and where she was working.  She was still in the career that she had studied for.  His wife, Denise, and I were college pals.

         Ken and Denise had met each other at youth group at their local church.  They asked me to coordinate their wedding and I did.  It was a sweet wedding.

         Anytime I had a party down at Trojan Lane, I always invited the young couple.  Ken quickly stole my heart at the second party he attended. 

         “I like coming to your parties; you serve imported beer, all kinds of them, not the cheap beer,” he said.  A picture came to mind, bottles of imported beer shoved in ice embellished with assorted fresh flower heads in a large terracotta pot.  Ken would look each beer over and then chose one. That was when I was impersonating Martha Stewart. 

         So, I quickly made him my partner in crime for the 4^th of July parties where everyone brought a bag full of fireworks. Ken would assist me in setting them off and then we would run like hell to safety.  He was braver than I was so he would light the big stuff.  Me, I had to run in the cool grass barefoot because I’d fall out of my summer sandals.  He was also lighter on his feet and quicker than me.

         Ken was a good sport always finishing the show when I had to collapse on the lawn exhausted.

         Right as we parted, I gave him another hug, “It is nice that you two are still married,” I said to him confidentially.

         He nodded to me knowing what I meant.  Many of their friends had gotten married and divorced.  They had a good foundation.  I’d known he was right for her from the moment she introduced me to him.

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         On to the next hardware store for something I couldn’t find at the first one. At the cash register I asked a direct question about a product, they often sold.

         “You are not from around here – are you?”  She said as she is bagging my purchase.

         “Not originally, but I’ve been here for 30 years. Why do you ask?”

         “I think you are from New England, I’m from New Jersey.”

         “Yes, Massachusetts,” I confirmed to her.

         “You have a distinct voice, a nice voice.”

         “Thanks.” 

         I thought what a nice compliment, and then remembered what Kenny Hopkins had said. “I recognized you by your voice.”

         Maybe the rest of me is falling apart or changing drastically, but at least my voice is holding up!  Mom would have gotten a chuckle out that.