By Doris Schroeder
Going through these everyday times with my younger sister Carol while she is in hospice care at the Good Samaritan, I am reminded of so many good times we had together. She loves to reminisce now as I visit her each day and it makes me realize how precious is each day in the time God has allotted to each of us on this earth. We should never take these times for granted.
I have a little time today. John and I had planned to go to Carol’s apartment in Wichita today to take care of her car and pick up a few more things from her apartment but circumstances made us change that job until tomorrow. This is a good time to get some writing done. I have never realized before how we writers can think through situations and problems by jotting them down. It helps us see the problem for what it is and come to grips with it. Hopefully, as we grow older, we can even learn to accept things that God’s will has for us.
Our family moved to Hutch and Carol attended grade school and I went to Sherman Junior High. Then one Autumn when I came down with scarlet fever and steppe throat, our family was quarantined…that was a delightful time for all of us.
Our neighbors brought our groceries to the back porch, my Mom kept up her delicious cooking and my Dad, Carol and I could talk, tell stories and listen to each other. It was so wonderful that TV was not yet on the market so Carol and I learned all kinds of things from our Dad.
Of course, when I attended Buhler High School, I was only home in Hutchinson in the summers and sometimes on week ends. Carol had her play mates that kept her quite occupied. I do know that when I started to date and my friend brought me home to my parents’ front porch, I some-times saw the front curtains move and two blue eyes peering out.
After John and I were married, Carol would come over sometimes to help me with some of the housework. One day she had scrubbed my kitchen floor beautifully clean when our parents came to pick her up. I showed them what she had done and my Dad made the remark “I wish she would do that at home!” I thought to myself “Isn’t that the way life is!
As she grew up she worked at Kress and then got a job with Western Union until they began going out. She loved to drive, even to different states for her job. Later in life she worked for the city of Wichita and took an apartment in the city.
After we both were retired, we loved to decide on an area in Kansas to visit and make a day’s excursion.
We enjoyed visiting many of the little towns of Kansas, sometimes in her little red car or mine, we felt like we got a real feel for our state.
We spent a day in Council Grove, a town our grandmother had lived in. We ate lunch in the building that was their original place for everything from church to
get-togethers in the eighteen hundreds. We enjoyed tea in a little tea shop and drove near the river where the settlers and Indians would discuss peace.
In another town we saw the oldest court house in existence and ate at Emma’s Cafe. We drove to Great Bend and drove by Carol’s apartment she once had when she worked there. We even went to Larned and drove by the state hospital.
In later years when our grandson John Edward was stationed in Wichita. Carol and I would drive to Newton with him and shop around, stop for coffee, and discuss our lives. Another time when our grandson Jesse came to Kansas for a visit. the three of us went to Abilene and had a wonderful time visiting the Eisenhower Memorial, eating in an old mansion and discussing life in general. Of course, there were special times this last summer when Carol and I met with Judy and John and Carol in Wichita.
Our most special times occurred in the latter years when we would attend the Kansas State Fair. At first we were still limber enough to take in quite a bit. and even rode a few of the scarier rides. In the latter years, however, we just couldn’t do as much walking anymore. The last time we went was a couple years ago and we had decided to take the sky ride across the south part of the grounds. We hadn’t realized there was no platform for our feet and we must admit we were a little frightened. They helped us off at the end, however, and we felt it was worth it.
I certainly miss that we can’t make the rounds anymore, but will always enjoy the memories with my little sister, Carol. Writing about the memories makes me realize how we need to cherish these times together because life is always slipping by. It also reminds us how short life really is and make sure that each one is going to heaven. Then someday we will all be together again.
Both Carol and I can attest to the fact that “Life is short so we don’t want to waste even a minute of it!” The wonderful thing is that God has provided a wonderful place in heaven for each of us if we accept him as our Lord and Savior.
Since we have both accepted him, we will be together in Heaven some day.
