Part 1: An Inconvenience Turned to Blessing

On March 5 of this year, I had the opportunity to go to Little Rock on book business.  During five hours, I spent  a retired teacher’s best kind of heaven on earth.  My friend Martha Rodriquez and I enjoyed a two hour chat on the trip from Jonesboro and arrived shortly before noon.  The late morning didn’t start out to be blissful. The first thing I did when we arrived in Little Rock was to get my car stuck in a driveway next door to Jason Bolden’s law office  in in the older part of Little Rock.  You know how they used to pave only two strips to drive on with grass in the middle and on either side…. You guessed it!  Some silver-haired retired teachers can’t backup very straight.  But even that turned out to be a blessing.  My former student and current legal expert had a fine maintenance man who tried to help.  Jason Bolden, that former student, tried to help.  Finally a kind, dedicated police detective from the Little Rock Police department came across the street and tried to help.  When he was unable to “unstick” my mired Jeep with the help of Jason and the other fine man,   Detective Temple called a tow business who came and dislodged me and then left no bill!  God is good, and so are so many people in our wonderful state.

Part 2:  A Continued Blessing…not often enough

Once the dilemma of a car that wouldn’t move was solved, Martha and I spent another hour and a half with Jason Bolden and his bright, funny daughter Hannah enjoying an excellent lunch and talking a little business. We had come to Little Rock to ask Jason’s advice about setting up a service to help writers who needed help preparing manuscripts for publication. We both self-publish our books and have been asked by many writers to show them how they could do the same.  His keen knowledge eased my concern about getting involved in a business at my stage of life.  Jason has always been my go-to about legal matters since he received his degree.  I always love to spend time with him and his family. They have become family to me in the years since  he was a student in my classroom.  I love to spend time with his wife and children, too.  Both Alex and Hannah are so precocious that holding conversations with them is delightful.  They both love books so we have common ground to communicate.  Jason never fails to take care of me when the need arises.  We closed our meeting with hugs and a promise to meet again soon.  Hannah even called out to me as I left, “Love ya, Ms. Pat.”  I could have come home a happy lady if that had ended my day.

Part 3: A Blessing Long Delayed

When I left Jason’s office, I didn’t know another slice of that wonderful day was just a few miles away.   Before the great snow of ’21, I had been contacted by a former student that I’d not seen nor heard from since the day of her graduation in 1985.  I was blessed to teach at Sloan-Hendrix High School in Imboden, Arkansas for twenty-one years. It was there that I encountered both Jason and Vanetta Gee. Frankly, I was surprised when she messaged me because I remembered her as a student who didn’t care much for my class.  I didn’t think she liked me very much. More than once,  I scolded her in Spanish for talking in class.  She reminded me of those daily “talks” when I entered class with “No hablan mas.  Silencio. No hablan mas, chiquitas” as I sharply slapped my hands together to get their attention.  But I always  take the opportunity to meet with former students so I decided I’d deliver the books she’d requested instead of mailing them.

That was the perfect decision.  The drive to her ranch in Saline County, just outside Little Rock was beautiful.  The rolling hills, the budding trees, and the clear blue skies made the trip a delight.  When we arrived, we found Vanetta putting her horses in the barn for the evening.  She had changed so little from the eighteen-year-old I’d know so many years ago that I was immediately taken back to a much earlier time.  Even in the time of Covid, she greeted me with a hug and told me she was so happy to have me in her home.  She was no more pleased than I was.  This visit truly touched my heart.

First, she introduced me to her beloved SHAQ… now any of you who are well-acquainted with me know that I am not much of animal person.  Frankly, I’ve always been wary of animals that I couldn’t pick up!  But I instantly fell in love with Shaq.  He is a horse…not a pony, mind you.  A really big horse.

 

A Truly Big Horse…and a Memorable Reunion.

Shaq is the most beautiful horse I’ve ever seen.  He is HUGE!  And Gentle! And Friendly! The darling horse snuggled my cheek and kissed my hand.  I didn’t flinch once or even want to.  Shaq is a Percheron, native of France.  His well-groomed coat glistened, black as coal.  His sides rippled with strength.  He had a friend with him that Vanetta called Victory.  He was no small-fry either, being half Clydesdale and half Quarter horse.  He is multi-colored, and when she put him in the corral at the barn, Victory scampered around like a colt.  I enjoyed him too, but Shaq had already won my heart.  I guess it was his history.  Percheron horse were the breed used by the Vikings and the Medieval knights who would have needed their strength to carry them with their burden of armor and weaponry.

Martha and I could have spent the rest of the afternoon watching our new friends play in the pasture, but Vanetta invited us to her beautiful log home at the top of the hill.  A cozy fire was burning in the living room and her “other half”…I won’t say better half because I don’t know Greg Evans that well…was there to welcome us to their home.  We spent the better part of an hour talking about the past when I had known Vanetta and about her (their) live since we had parted.

Vanetta and Greg had both served our country for several years in the US Navy.  That was where they had met and began their lives together.  Over the years, their various careers brought prosperity and allowed them to retire early.  Now Vanetta spends her time volunteering with community projects and using her wonderful horses as therapy animals around the Little Rock and central Arkansas region.  She has used Shaq and his friends in schools, senior care facilities and in clinical settings with the disabled.  Together she and Greg spend much time traveling and enjoying the adventures that life has to offer.  Greg told me that he had known about me for a long time, as Vanetta talked about her teacher, Senora Blake since their early days in the navy.

Yes, I was more than rewarded that day.  I loved my visit with my long lost chiquita and learning of the good she does with her life.   I am  proud of the woman she is now.  I more than enjoyed that very brief visit in her beautiful home. I am grateful for the service these two fine people gave to our country with their military years.  I thank God he gave me the opportunity to cross paths with Vanetta Gee Evans again.  I hope it won’t be the last time.