Too excited to work

Life grabbed my attention and pulled me out of my doldrums Saturday evening when I sat down to check my Facebook feed on the desk computer. I really should have checked there sooner. My phone never revealed a morning posting by Sandy Gross, wife of John Gross, assistant superintendent at Smackover-Norphlet High School. She wrote that Norphlet High School had just had a fire with a lot of damage.

A fire? At the high school! Nine hours before I saw the posting!

Surely the El Dorado News-Times weekend staff already knew this, but just in case the staff had not heard, I called the office. The staff had not heard. Because I had called, I quickly found myself jumping in the car heading to Norphlet with my husband as my driver. Quentin Winstine, the weekend photographer, greeted us. We talked with the clean-up crew, craned our necks for a view of the fire damage and went to the office to write a story for the Sunday edition.

By the time I finished I had talked with Coach Steele, who found the fire; Principal Keith Coleman, who was re-arranging classes, teachers and students; and John Gross, who had gone to work on the softball field early in the morning and stayed until sunset, working to make sure school could open on Monday.

I do not usually cover the hard news stories, so I was up early the next day to read my story and see the pictures the photographer and a teacher had taken.

You would think that by the afternoon my brain would have settled from the excitement. But no, we had company for dinner and then I had a quilt I absolutely needed to finish before my work week began. I had, after all, promised the organizers of the quilt show that I would have my Flat Cow quilt finished in time for the Festival of Quilts to be held at the Conference Center April 17 and 18.

I fed the company, visited, and then pinned and stitched. Stitching soothes the energized soul. Well, it does until I finish a quilt and then I want to celebrate, “Look what I did!” I began posting pictures of it on Facebook pages. I pointed out that I had backed the quilt top with fabric with a print of green clover so my flat cow laid in a bed of clover.

Monday, I toddled into the office and sat down to the computer ready to work, still a bit high from the weekend excitement. I tried to settle into work. And I would have, but I received a message that our newest family member, Victoria Renae, 6 pounds and 11 ounces, had arrived that morning. Of course I had to ask questions, find out more information and begin to wonder when I could work out a time to see her in person. It might be a while, … the baby lives a lengthy 14 -hour drive away.

As I absorbed the information about the newest person in my life, my daughter sent me a text. She had found an elusive, vintage, Featherweight Singer Sewing Machine – a machine coveted by many quilters and vintage sewing machine collectors. She wanted to know if it was a good price. I had to ask for details, read her \dfeBay and ask more questions. She had literally found the golden egg %\/ a sweet little machine with a lot of extras and in working condition.

I held my breath as she debated purchasing it.

So yes, it was a bit difficult to focus on work Monday, the day when I begin writing my column. I had way too many exciting things happening in the newspaper business, the home front and in community events.

Driving home I realized I needed some fabric therapy, some time stitching on yet another quilt. It’s too late to put it in the quilt show at the Conference Center on April 17, but it will keep me happy and calm until then.

(Joan Hershberger is a staff writer for the News-Times. Email her at joanh@everybody.org)


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