a life well lived


Thursday, May 8, 2014

Terwood Road/Memory Lane


It has been a lot of fun as Elsa takes envelopes of photos to photocopy for the party.  We have a wonderful time when she brings home the goodies and starts snipping them up for framing.


A frame that usually holds three pictures from our 1997 trip to DisneyWorld now holds some treasured black & white snapshots - a wedding picture of Pete and myself in the center spot and two photos of the family on a walk.  The pictures of the walk brought back ancient memories.  Mim looks like she was around two, which would have made Mike four and Peter around eight.  The four of us are pretty bundled up, so it was probably in the fall.  (Ian and Elsa were far from being a glimmer in Pete's eyes.)



The five of us - including Pete - had walked up Fettersmill and down Terwood Road.  As we walked toward Welsh Road, we met Randolf Childs coming in the other direction.  

"It's so good to see people walking outside of Bryn Athyn!"  he greeted us.  "Lots of folk just never leave our little boro.  Seems to me they don't know much about the larger world and want to know even less.  They don't know what they are missing!"    

This from one of the staunchiest pillars of the church - I was dumbstruck!



I always liked Randolf Childs, even though I was very much in awe of him.  He did not suffer fools gladly.    

Many, many years ago, I heard a story about a couple who made an appointment with Mr. Childs.  They laid out their problem and he neatly summed up the situation and gave them his advice, all within a few minutes.   
The husband and wife looked at each other and quietly conferred - they valued the advice but had expected him to take longer to get to his conclusion.  The husband fished out two dollars and, explaining that since it didn't take Mr. Childs very long to figure out the solution, it must have been a pretty easy problem so two dollars was about what he and his wife thought it was worth. 

Mr. Childs, from what I hear, drew himself up and said, "All I have to sell is my mind.  What I know is worth a great deal more than $2.00,"  and he handed back the $2.



He did not suffer fools gladly, but children were another matter.  As a little girl, Mim was so taken with him - he was tall and distinquished looking and a kind man - that she named one of her dolls "Randolf" in his honor.



How lovely to wander down Memory Lane!  Every day, I enjoy getting ready for this party more & more.  If the event is half as much fun as the preparations, it is going to be beyond words.



Love to all - the soon-to-be Birthday Girl

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