Charlotte

There are some people in the world who seem to have been born with an extra measure of refinement and grace. My neighbor Charlotte was one of them. She was from the old school: she worked hard and didn't complain; and when there wasn't a way, she would make one. I have heard that necessity is the mother of invention. Perhaps that is what made Charlotte so resourceful. But what is it that made her so happy?

I think it is the conviction that she was loved. Jim really loved Charlotte. He loved her to the end, and he loves her still.

What will I remember about Charlotte?

I'll remember the girlish delight she took in creating beautiful things and sharing them with other people. She was fantastic with anything involving arts and crafts. She was skilled in making porcelain dolls, in painting, in sewing. And she enjoyed those employments to the hilt.

Charlotte always wanted to go to college, but couldn't because she wasn't a man, and only men were suited for academics. So she taught herself. She never let obstacles stop her from living life. Charlottle teaches me that where there's a will there's a way.

And I will never forget Charlotte and Jim's generosity. They always treated me like an honored guest, and took and active interest in the things that were important to me. I wish I could have known Charlotte longer. I wish I could have written her stories down.

She told me one once, a classic, to be sure. When Charlotte was a teenager she borrowed her mother's pearl necklace to go to a dance without telling her. To her horror, it slipped off while she was riding the bus. When she returned to search, it was gone. Unknown to her, however, her brother had gotten on the bus after she left it, and sat in the same exact seat, and found the necklace which he recognized. When the two got home, Charlotte could not belive her good fortune. The necklace was returned with none the wiser but Charlotte. And her brother, who lorded it over her for many many years after.

Charlotte's life was one of perseverance through pain. Her son was in Vietnam and the Korean war and had a nervous breakdown. Her daughter Vikki died of cancer when she was in her 40s.

But she always smiled at the world. "Smile, and the world will smile with you, but frown, and you'll frown all by yourself." Jim's famous last words. "Just let life come to you, don't go chasing it," he always tells me.

I guess what I'll remember most about Charlotte and Jim is that they let life come to them and they always enjoyed it. They seemed to know how to live it well. And they loved each other.

What more could one want said of someone? "She loved and lived well."

May that be said of me someday.