I meet friends down at the Wagon Wheel sometimes three times a day. We don’t gossip, we just discuss things—the kids, what happened on the weekend, is everybody well and that.

*****

I started working at the American Legion in 1971.  People call me Mean Jean because I sell the gambling down there and sometimes I’m not too good giving out winners.  One guy, when he sees me, he’ll say, Hi Mean, and I don’t even hardly sell to him.

*****

My husband and I have been divorced over 30 years.  In 2003 he was walking right out here by the Legion with his companion of 25 years.  A car hit them.  She was killed and he was severely injured.  It was a hit and run.

*****

After his sixth fall at his own apartment, he landed in the nursing home for rehab.  His brother said, you’re not going back to that apartment, George.  But he’s deathly afraid of going into nursing homes again.  I knew there was no other place for him to go, so I said well, you can come up to the house, that’s what I said.  So he lives with me now.   A lot of people think I’m nuts for having him.  They think that because we’re divorced I’m not compelled to do this.  But he’s the father of my children and who else would do it?  The kids all work.  I’ve been able to do it.  It has been over a year since his last fall.

*****

I’m a lot stronger than people think.  When I had my double knee surgery.  I came in the room and the doctor said walk to the door.  So I did.  And he says, well, I can see you have a high tolerance for pain.  And I do.  I don’t go to the doctor every time I got a little pain.

*****

About two months ago my son and grandson got me a laptop computer.  I thought I’d never be able to work the thing, but I’m hooked.  It relaxes me.  I lift it up every night and look at the news, and I love playing Solitaire on there.  I’ve played over 1500 games.  I was very stupid at first, but now I’m starting to win quite a bit [laughs].

*****

To me the Wagon Wheel is just the greatest place in town.  It’s homey.  You know right away everybody’s going to greet you.  Kevin has a good clientele down there—a lot of us old buggers.

The Wagon Wheel is just a warm place to go.  It’s like an old shoe.   I meet down there with a coffee group that calls itself the Bullshippers.   We’re a very diverse group.  We’ve got a retired doctor, retired school teachers, a retired banker, a retired investment individual, and a retired dentist to name a few.  I enjoy listening to all the yack, yack, yack and trying to figure out what they said.

*****

I was born on the 18^th day of May of 1918—that makes me 92 years old. Even at 92 you can still do things, and people accept you as being 92.  They don’t expect too much of you.  I look around the congregation, and I’m the oldest one there but that doesn’t bother me any.

*****

My first wife, Wilda, died from cancer.   That’s the low spot in my life.  But that happens, everybody has happy times and sad times.  We were married 45 years.

*****

Doris and I met in a rather unique way.  I was at church one day, and I saw this man sitting back there by himself.  My first wife was at the hospital having an operation. so I was alone at church and went back to visit with this man.  I walked up and I said “I see you’re here alone too, my name is Meyer [spells it out] M.E.Y.E.R.”  He stood up and said, “well, my name is Beyer—B.E.Y.E.R.”   I found out that his wife Doris was in the same hospital as my wife.  The four of us visited later at the hospital and made a connection.  From that time on the two couples just bonded.   The four of us did a lot of things together.

*****

Doris Meyer enters conversation: His wife passed away the same year that my husband passed away.  Paul and I started going out for meals and drives. Most of the time he’d talk about things he and Wilda did during their marriage and I’d talk about my husband, whose name also happened to be Paul.  So it started out just sharing thoughts of our marriages and that was real good for us–to get over the grief in that way.  We never thought about it as a date.

*****

One day we met friends at a restaurant and they looked at us and said, “you two look like you want to get married.”  Then we were at T.G.I Fridays one day having noon lunch and the waitress came up and said…“you two look like lovebirds” so I guess we started thinking maybe there is something here.

*****

I was sitting on a chair in my apartment; it must have been after we had dinner.  He got down on his knee and said, “will you marry me?” I said “yes.”

*****

It was just one of those things that are made in heaven.  We both had been happy in our marriages, we both lost our spouses, and we had a good fit to know each other.  We saw more and more of each other and finally decided:  Why not get a better income tax [joint laughter].

*****

I’m sure glad the coffee group exists.  It’s wonderful for these fellows to get together—the camaraderie and having each other for support.  They’re just bullshippers.

Radio Diaries has a new audio collage summarizing 15 years of storytelling.  The entire project is worth a listen, but the 3 minute story documenting the history of the project gives you a real nice feel for this unique form of audio storytelling

Hi All,

Here’s a compelling new audio story from the Place + Memory Project–these folks are doing some great work on places that have come and gone but manage to live on…

Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies recently produced a series of stories on American farmers and farming.  Featuring beautiful photography and compelling audio, the work represents the best in multimedia storytelling.

• Click here to listen/see

I was reading the Kitchen Sisters’ Blog the other day and somehow found my way to this story.  So many good things about the story–but perhaps the only necessary teaser is this:  It is guaranteed to forever change the way you see the George Foreman Grill.

Hello All,

Back in 2008, I had the opportunity to spend some time in Mutch Northside Hardware on Belgrade Avenue in Lower North Mankato, Minnesota.  The place is run by David and Sandy Mutch.  I was struck by the way David and Sandy manage to maintain a place that sells hardware, yes, but also serves as a community gathering place.  The introduction I wrote for the piece back in 2008 went like this…

“You can count on this place…”

Mutch Northside Hardware is to the big box store what the hand-written letter is to email. Drop in and David and Sandy Mutch will help you fix what needs fixing–if you have a few extra minutes, they’ll also be happy to chat with you about the 1965 Minnesota Twins, snapping turtles, and anything else you might have on your mind.

• View Audio Slideshow