2011 Cheer Year - Letter 7

I love the opening scene of the movie To Kill A Mockingbird where Scout as a grown woman is describing her little town of Maycomb, Alabama and more specifically the street she grew up on. She inspires us as she talks about mad dogs and spooky houses, and Boo Radley. Somehow she transports us right to that time and place. It’s truly a remarkable gift from author Harper Lee. The warmth that is described by Scout is the same warmth that I felt as a young child growing up on Cardinal Drive in Taylor Mill, Kentucky. It was a neighborhood with factory workers, plumbers, welders and restaurant managers. In the summertime, we would play outside, barefooted, in the dirt, with only our banana seat bicycles, large oak trees, running creeks, and our vivid imaginations. When dinner time came, my mom would ring the large liberty bell that my dad had erected on an old telephone pole in our backyard. We lived at the very end of the street and there were only twenty houses total. At the top of Cardinal Drive was an old run-down, two-story, haunted house full of stories of ghosts and murders (or at least that’s what I had always heard). An old 1800 cemetary lay overgrown next to the house. My letter today will be handwritten and mailed to a man who I haven’t seen or spoken to since I moved away almost 30 years ago.

Mr. Dillard Cobb

Erlanger, KY 41017

Dear Mr. Cobb:

Let me take this opportunity to wish you a happy 93rd birthday coming up in February! That’s quite a milestone! This year I’m looking back at my life and thanking people who made an impact on me and today I want to thank you for the impact you made on me when I was growing up on Cardinal Drive in Taylor Mill, Kentucky. You probably don’t even realize what kind words you spoke that impacted me as a neighbor kid. Whenever you saw my sister and me coming, you would say “here comes those pretty Portier sisters!” It’s funny how six words could impact me as a small child and carry through my adult life. Those six words would always be accompanied by a welcome to eat usually something out of your garden or an apple from your tree. You always made me feel special and I appreciate greatly your kindness. It was always one of the highlights of a hot summer evening to see you hook up the cart to your horse and let us jump in for a ride up and down the street. So many years have passed since those simple summer nights on Cardinal Drive. As you celebrate your birthday, I hope this gift of “thank you” will help you realize how much you are thought of by people in different places. I’m enclosing a picture of “those pretty Portier sisters.” May God grant you the desires of your heart on your 93rd birthday.

Kindest Regards,

Patty Portier Wade