The Reenacting Community is people willing to share their lives with others for the sake of History.  We commune together for two to three days quite a few times a year at reenactments.  However, the communing flows over into our "other" life through emails, phone calls, cards and letters.  We are lucky to make new friends beyond our normal circle.  We are also fortunate to be able to turn away from some who don't quite fall in sinc with us and we go on to find others who do.  And then there are those who come into your life and you feel as if you have known them forever.  It's black and white like this page and font color.  No questions or hesitations, they are there for you and you are there for them.  You color the friendship with your experiences together.  The good, the bad, the excitements, the problems, the kids, the pets, the parents, the little things, the big things, the happiness and the sadness.  It is the sadness that lets you know just how deep the friendship has progressed.
    Paul had a cold that he couldn't seem to shake.  It turned into what they thought was pneumonia and he was put in the hospital just three weeks ago on Monday May 13, 2002.  After tapping the lung, they discovered that he had tumors of cancer which was one of the more fast growing types.  At first there was hope, to a certain degree.  Then there were thoughts that this was more notice than a car wreck or a heart attack.
    If a person lives long enough, they will experience being the survivor of a death of a loved one.  Since I was 20 years old, I have called it the 11th lesson in life.  Yesterday was hard for me to get through remembering that in 1970 I buried my brother Bill.  Today is not any easier knowing that we lost Paul at 10:30 this morning, June 3, 2002.  I have carried on through many deaths close to me and assisted with our church families by chairing the funeral dinners for 18 years.  I have found that I seem to be a magnet to those in need of ministering and try my best to give comfort and guidance.  I pray a lot that my words will be the right ones.
    Paul was the strong one.  He treated Anne like a lady and not just because she has MS.  He was just that kind of guy.  Anne makes the City Bonnets for me, but almost every one had a touch of Paul in them.  Whether it was the style he designed, the plume he sewed on or the bookwork involved.  When Anne was seeing double from her MS and we had committed orders for "Gods and Generals", then Paul helped out.  He was a problem solving type person and I can still hear him saying,  "Have you thought about.......???"  That was his way of making a suggestion to solve a problem without hurting your feelings.
    In March, Anne wanted to go to AZ. with me.  Paul decided he wanted to go too, with uniform and loaded guns.  He wanted to see what it was like shooting around a cactus.  Three battles a day and he never got in any of them because he was needed in the Parlor.  I finially handed him the camera and said, "Go shoot some pictures of it."  We three had a great time together, wonderful memories.  And even Mac made up with him---he doesn't like men.
    So this page is written so that you will stop for a moment and honor life's friendships.  They color our lives and enrich them.