Pam Orren

The pandemic provided the perfect opportunity for me to start the Swedish Death Cleanse, and I came across one of my favorite books from my childhood.  “Pat Barnes’ Pick-Ups” was published in 1927, and my father obtained it in his childhood.  Compiled by a Chicago radio personality, it was full of sentimental poems.  It brings me back to a time when I read this aloud with my family.

My favorite poem was “Around the Corner,” presented with no credit to Charles Hanson Towne, whom I later found out wrote it.

As a child, this sad poem taught me the power of staying in touch with friends. As I’ve grown older, many of my friends have passed away. Luckily, I had contact with several of them over the not-too-distant past.. I recently reconnected with many childhood friends at my 50th year high school class reunion, and we stay in touch now. Talking to them led to me contacting our kindergarten teacher from 1956.  She is living in California and wrote back to me and sent a picture. It is amazing to me that she was 21 when she taught us.

I am not willing to part with this book because it reminds me of a period when we spent time together, not in front of a TV, but listening to the radio, reading aloud, singing, telling each other our dreams, and connecting with each other. During the pandemic, I am finding that those same things are valuable tools to stay sane.