| |
"I'm so glad!" Kelly beamed. "Uncle Terry always loves to meet a fan.
"Sadler's Ridge has always been one of my favorite places too. When I was a little girl, my mom would let me stay on the farm during the summers. Back then my grandparents lived in the small refurbished lean-to," she said looking thoughtfully into the distance. "At the beginning of their marriage Uncle Terry and Aunt Shawn had plans to fill their home with lots of children, but after years of trying, they learned that they couldn't have children on their own. So, for years they treated me as their honorary daughter and made sure that I grew up knowing the history of our family's farm for the future in hopes that I might take over when they passed. They loved me, but I knew they were lonely for a child of their own.
"A few years back their best friends were killed in a car crash leaving behind two teenage boys. Since there weren't any relatives able to take them, Terry and Shawn adopted them without question. The oldest, David, is now in college for agriculture management and Jared is in school at State to be a veterinarian. They'll be there today, along with my mom."
"What is your mom like?" I asked, enjoying how animated she became when talking about her family.
"Mom's amazing. She's retired from the Air Force and currently works in public relations for several county police and sheriff's departments. They call her in anytime an officer fires a gun at a suspect, but mostly she helps promote community support of police officers.
"She recently helped implement the Cincinnati method of patrolling that assigns officers to regular blocks instead of rotating them. That way residents can become familiar with and learn to trust the officerS assigned to their neighborhood. It's reduced the crime rate amongst several of the communities she works as a contractor for.
"Now, enough about my family. Tell me, how long you've been coming to Sadler Ridge?"
We continued our conversation until we turned onto the dirt road leading to Kelly's uncle's farm.
"Oh my gosh, John! Look!!!!" squealed Katie. "It's Sadler's Ridge."
Always my serious child, John responded with, "But it's not Halloween. Does that mean we won't get to come at Halloween?"
"John, I promise we will be coming back for the Halloween festival. Today we get to come here because Ms. Kelly's family owns the farm and is going to take you guys on an extra special hayride," I said with dramatic excitement.