Has It Really Been That Long?

This is an anniversary for me. Believe it or not, as of this week I’ve been writing this column for 15 years.

Fifteen years! 

Even as I type those words, the reality of it is having trouble sinking in. I wasn’t sure I’d last six months, let alone 15 years.

As I mentioned in one of my earliest efforts, initially I was terrified by the prospect of doing a weekly column. I kept thinking about my days in Mr. Morrison’s art class at Noblesville High School.

Mr. M. was great. He ran a really loose classroom. We were free to do pretty much whatever we wanted — painting, stained glass, pottery . . .  Anything considered artistic was fine with him.

That worked well for some people, but I spent way too much time sitting around, trying to figure out what to do.

When it was suggested that I write a weekly column, I started having flashbacks to Mr. M.’s class. I was afraid the day would eventually arrive when I couldn’t come up with a topic. I even set aside a column in case that ever happened.

That column is still sitting in my email, unused. Occasionally, I’ve been tempted to dust it off and run it (updated by a few tweaks,) but I guess I’m superstitious. It’s become my good luck charm. As long as it’s there, I feel like I have a safety net.

What finally convinced me to say “yes” to doing the column was the opportunity to accurately present Hamilton County history.

When I was in school, we barely learned Indiana history, let alone anything about our county. I doubt that’s changed much, which is a shame. Hamilton County has a particularly rich past and people who live here should know more about it.

I’ve been especially focused on digging up little nuggets of information that never made it into the big county histories — you know, the kind of details that remind us our forebears were no different from us. Circumstances and settings change with time, but human nature NEVER does.

I can’t let this anniversary pass without giving a shout-out to Jerry Snyder. You wouldn’t be reading these words today if not for her. 

When I offered to help Jerry with her Times column after vision problems left her barely able to see her computer screen, I never dreamed it would eventually lead to me writing a column of my own for the Times.

I learned a lot from Jerry and I’ve intentionally modeled this column after hers. She used to say she tried to write like she was talking to a neighbor over her back fence. I’ve made an effort to retain that same positive, conversational tone in my columns.

Somehow I’ve managed to keep chugging along all these years, even when The History Press/Arcadia Publishing recruited me to write “A Brief History of Noblesville.” (Co-authored by Nancy Massey and available at local drugstores, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon, she added with a wink.)

I want to thank all the people who’ve provided information and/or ideas that helped to make my chugging possible.

Please, keep it up! I really don’t want to have to pull my good luck charm out of mothballs.

Note: When I was at Gatewood’s recently to pick up a couple of mums (they’re gorgeous, by the way,) Kelli Balke reminded me that this year’s Potter’s Bridge Festival will be held “around the corner” from them on October 4. (11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

I’ve never attended the festival, but Kelli highly recommends it. Maybe that’s what I need to get into an autumn mood. With all the heat we’ve been having lately, no amount of pumpkin spice has been able to make me feel “fallish” yet.

Paula Dunn’s From Time to Thyme column appears on Wednesdays in The Times. Contact her at younggardenerfriend@gmail.com