Uncovering History with an Address Book: The B’s

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 Addresses have history. As I am going through an old hard-backed address book, I am uncovering old memories.

• I have memories for folks who’ve passed on.
• I have memories from two states (CA and CO) and two countries (Canada and England) I lived.

I have more memories than these. Read on to see what I discovered.

Writing to the B’s

1. Deceased. Two people have passed away: Denise and Laurie. They both impacted my life. I am reminded that it is important to tell folks, when they are alive, how important they are.

• Denise Burton and her family were fellow homeschoolers when we lived in CA. At one point we organized a homeschool science co-op. Denise was a godly woman who was fun, intelligent, supportive, wise and loving.
• I met Mrs. Byrd when we lived in Suffolk, England. Mrs. Byrd, Laurie, was the wife of my ex-husband’s boss. She epitomized inclusiveness, creativity, poise, and calm. Her friendship helped me to figure out how to settle down in a brand new environment.

2. Memories. I have the address to the Black Forest Camp and Conference Center in CO. It was basically across the street from where we lived in Colorado Springs. This was my daughter’s first job (outside of babysitting). This is also the place where our homeschool group held its annual promotion celebration.

3. Extra information. Sometimes I wrote down children’s names (of my friends), birth dates, anniversary dates and favorite color. Writing in this extra information all in spot, helps me to remember important information pertaining to my friends.

4. Where are you? I tried to locate current addresses of one couple. Don’t you hate it when Google search says it’s a free search but really you have to pay. You know the info is out there somewhere for free. But how in the world do you access it?

5. Incomplete. For some I just wrote a phone number but no area code. Several people are listed by their first names. This is curious since I do know their last names quite well. So I have no idea why I did that.

6. Business memory. I have addresses for three businesses: Black Forest Camp and Conference Center, Berean Book Store and Banfield Pet Hospital. There are many, many memories associated with Banfield hospital. I used to have an apricot, miniature, toy poodle named Chip. He had health insurance from Banfield. The care from there was always excellent whether it was for well check visits or for Chip’s end-of-life care.

7. Personal friends. I notice I have very few church or homeschool friends in my address book. That is because for both groups I’ve had another address book for them; one that came from that organization. I did, however, write in two folks from these places in my personal book. like Denise and Reva. These are ladies I regarded as FRIENDS.

I wrote 6 letters.

I prayed for 10 people. I prayed for the families of those who are deceased.  I took a chance and even wrote a letter to an estranged family member.

Last Wednesday’s post covered 8 things I learned from the A’s. Next Wednesday I will share what I uncover in the Cs. To find the landing page with all the posts, go here. It is after the jump at the bottom of the page.

Your Turn . . . Take a look through the names in the B section of your address book. Are you currently in touch with all those folks? . . . Any surprises? . . . Is there someone you will contact today?

Related Posts . . . 14 Memories Involving My Dog … Regret at Grave Over the Undone