THE DIGGS FRONT PORCH
Phyllis and I are travelers. It started when I enlisted in the Army in January, 1960. But it did not end there. Tracing our post Army travels is like reading a travel brochure. From the Army, we returned to Tulsa and stayed a long time, 4 years. If I can remember from there:
Springfield, Florida, Springfield, Texas, Minnesota, Texas, Arizona, Minnesota, Texas, Springfield, Muskogee, Texas, Broken Arrow, Florida, Tulsa, Indiana, Wisconsin. Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma.
Now why would I tax my mind to recollect these places? It is to tell the story of kindness of strangers, especially in trying circumstances. First, let me start with the Diggs. Phyllis and I were young and on our own. I was 19 and she was 18, married 18 months, living on $142 a month, Army pay. No worry we were soon getting a pay rase of $38.
All of this to say, most times money lasted about 3 weeks a month, if we were careful. We lived next door to an elderly couple, who after a few months, adopted us.
Well, really, Phyllis. Apparently the Diggs were psychic. Without prompting they would show up with food and give some lame reason. Like, I fixed too much food for us, and we can’t eat that much.
They seemed to know when we needed help and they willingly provided what we needed. The fact was, they were extraordinarily kind people. We remember the Diggs from 60+ years ago.
The next event of exceptional and timely kindness happened in an airport in New Jersey. We were on our way home from Germany when we attempted to board the plane to Tulsa, we were informed that our luggage was over the allowable weight. $100 over weight. Well it may as well been a thousand dollars.At that moment a lady stepped up and said she overheard our conversation and offered to take us to her house so that we could make travel arrangements. She explained that she had seen her military husband off to Germany for an unaccompanied tour of duty.
We called around and found we could travel by train with the money we had and one would be leaving shortly. She took us the the terminal and we said our goodbyes and boarded the train for Tulsa. We never saw the nice lady again.
The neat thing about the train was the observation car. We could sit high above normal seating, surrounded by windows to watch the passing scenery. The most pleasurable part was watching Rick who was almost 2, visit with the other passengers.
Carrying on conversations was what he did with us all time. An exceptional social youngster. And the passengers seemed to enjoy his stories and friendly banter. During our travels several kind people have stepped up to help at the right moment. I’ll share one more.This couple we met in Decator, Indiana as we both waited for the Service Center to finish with our motorhomes.
When the couple learned that we were going to the Black Hills, they started telling us of all the things we must see. And since they lived near the Park, they will be a tour guide. They said it may take several days. They were right and they were first rate guides. Mostly, they were kind.Finally, Phyllis and I are grateful for all those we have met and made friends with many of them. We met John and Lisa in Decator, IN and joined us in Creede, CO and traveled the Silver Thread with us.
Some still stay in touch through Facebook and messages. It was our good fortune to be so blessed. God is good.