Mid-afternoon.
This morning breakfast about nine, cereals and scrambled eggs for most then the
adults focused finishing up the basement for now and packing the Odyssey with
important boxes to move. Eventually, you had lunch at Olive Garden. then a stop
at Honda to check tire pressure and to see the new Clarity Plug-In. The adults
liked it, the boys ran around on the side yard of the dealership. They headed
home and you and Carol took a Sunday drive from South Lebanon up to the east
side of Lebanon. You spent some time checking out the fairly new communities
that have been popping in the last one to three years. - Amorella
Saturday
was spent working in the basement. Lots of draft papers and what's-it items
thrown out. You have the front of the driveway divided into recycle and
throw-away stuff.
Friday,
Kim, Paul and the boys woke up and you played chess before they left for the
museum. When they came home you had plenty of basement work to attend to. It
was a busy but productive weekend. Paul works tomorrow and you are going up
Thursday for a meeting Friday. Later Friday Kim is coming down to work for the
weekend as Paul has to work. Next weekend and in between you are working on the
basement. Visual progress is being made. Lots of heavy duty shelving was emptied and torn down for storage at Kim
and Paul's. Some pieces are next to the walls so people can begin to actually
see how large the basement is. You could put a good size room down there plus a
full bath if need be and still have a lot of storage area or a couple more
rooms. Carol is on page 295, end of the current chapter of Invisible.
Time to head home. - Amorella
You
had leftovers for supper, watched ABC and NBC News and "The This Old House
Hour" which has the last episode for the season showing next week. The
trash is out and you rearranged it with a greater separation between trash and
recycle. - Amorella
2208 hours.
We are really pleased with the amount of work accomplished this weekend. Very
satisfying. In fact it was very relaxing because you could see the
opening-the-basement effect as we moved along.
You
did complete the narrative on meeting Press Reynolds and gave Owen and Brennan
their signed copies this morning. Kim and Paul were very proud when Owen wanted
to read it aloud and he did a very good job only mispronouncing one word which
Paul then helped him with. - Amorella
2215
hours. We were very impressed because he had not seen the material before so this
first reading was out loud; no practice.
Drop your
note to the boys in here. You made two copies so each has an original, so to
speak. - Amorella
** **
February 15, 2018
Dear Owen and Brennan,
When I was a
little fellow of five in Westerville my Papa took me two houses up Walnut
Street from where he and Grandma lived and introduced me to an old gentleman I
had seen on his porch since I was four. He always smiled and waved to me
when I was walking through Otterbein Cemetery across the street from his house,
which was a gray clapboard with a black roof and a covered front porch that had
three steps up.
I had waved to
this older neighbor but I did not know his name so my Papa thought it was time
to introduce me to him. I always remembered to be polite when meeting someone
for the first time.
After knocking on
the side door by the driveway, Papa smiled when the old gentleman opened the
door and came out to greet us.
My Papa said,
"Dickie, this is Mr. Press Reynolds. He was born a slave."
I smiled, said,
"Hello," and put my hand out and we shook hands. I really liked this
because it made me feel more grown up. Mr. Reynolds said, "How are you
young man?"
I said,
"Good," but I was thinking about how rough skinned his hands were. I
felt bad that he was so old and looked worn out. He had a wonderful smile and
sparkling eyes though, and I liked him very much for that. He cared about meeting
me. I could tell.
My Papa said,
"When Mr. Reynolds was a boy he lived on a tobacco plantation in the
South."
Mr. Reynolds
added, "When I was a boy a few years older than you, I operated a tobacco
leaf press so people called me Press. I was a slave for Mr. Reynolds who sold
tobacco to lots of people. He had a son my age and we played together sometimes
when I was younger like you are now. We were friends."
Papa continued,
"When President Lincoln freed the slaves Mr. Reynolds came north, married
a lady and they eventually came to Westerville to live because Westerville was
on the Underground Railroad line slaves had used to walk to freedom before the
Civil War."
I listened closely
but I remember focusing on Mr. Reynolds seemingly old and worn out hands
because they were at my eye level. I felt bad he had been a slave and had
worked so hard in his life that his hands were so knobby and rugged. He smiled
and said, "When I was freed from slavery I needed a new name and I chose
Press Reynolds and I was accepted with the new name."
Papa said,
"Mr. Reynolds still sees his old childhood friend also named Reynolds. His
friend and his wife come to see Press once a year and take him out to dinner
where they talk about how it was being children and growing up on the
plantation and how they are now."
Not knowing what
to say, I smiled. Maybe I said, "That's nice," I don't remember. To
me, old Mr. Reynolds stood like one of those tall granite stones that lined the
Otterbein Cemetery. I have never forgotten Mr. Press Reynolds and when I was
older and learned more about slavery and the Civil War and President Lincoln I
never forgot my introduction to Mr. Press Reynolds.
I had shaken hands
with a very kind old gentleman who had been born and raised a slave. This was
on West Walnut Street in Westerville in 1947 when I was five years old. Mr.
Reynolds said he was twelve years old when he was freed. He still kept in touch
with his old friend, another Mr. Reynolds who was one of the sons of the
plantation owner. The friend came to Westerville once a year and took Mr. Press
Reynolds out to dinner where they could talk about the present and the long ago
past in their lives. I will always remember Papa telling me that now I was five
I could go meet and talk with a very older friendly neighbor for many, many
years.
Even now, once in
a while, I will awake in the middle of
the night with a flash of memory of Mr. Reynolds’ face like he was still alive.
He had brightness within his tired eyes, short gray curly hair, and a warm,
kind smile for a little one like me. I was so happy to be his friend. I still
am.
So, there you are,
Owen and Brennan, this is the story of when your Papa met, shook hands and had
a first conversation with the kind and friendly man who had been born and raised
a slave, Mr. Press Reynolds, who became free when he was twelve years old. It
sounds like slavery was long, long ago, but it was not. Otherwise, you would not
have shaken the same hand that had shaken the hand of a man once legally born a
slave. I am forever happy he was set free and came to Westerville to live and I
could meet the friendly man with the smiling and skin-crinkled face who waved
to me from his porch as I took quiet walks in the peaceful cemetery across the
street from where my grandparents lived at the corners of Walnut and Knox in
Westerville, Ohio
Love,
Papa
Papa
Orndorff
** **
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