Some of you have heard me speak about my new friend Archie Cross. He lives on Firetower Road near our house. Katrina and I met him one morning as we were walking up the hill and he was coming down in his electric wheel chair. We spoke, introduced ourselves, he said I could remember his name..."just think of the old rugged cross" he said, and we went on our way. Each morning we ran into Archie and our conversations got longer. I discovered that he drove his chair to the Food Lion every morning to get what he needed to prepare dinner for he and his wife. He told me that his wife worked in Raleigh and he wanted everything to be perfect every day when she got home. I met one of his granddaughters one Sunday morning riding on his lap heading for church. We chat about the weather, the Firetower neighborhood, the horse that roams up and down the road. Rex, the dog that looks just like Katrina, the "bottle house" up the road (that's a whole different story). Whenever I see him He yells out "Jane...Katrina". He is always smiling and always leaves you with "have a blessed day!" I have come to look forward to passing him every day and it keeps me walking UP the road.
Archie had an Obama sign in his yard as did a number of his neighbors...Firetower is a Black neighborhood. This morning when we stopped to talk I asked him if he was pleased with the election. His face lit up and he proclaimed "oh yes, it is wonderful". I told him that I too was very glad and we exchanged thoughts about the significance of the election. All of a sudden I noticed that Archie had tears in his eyes as he spoke. He did not think he would live to see a Black person elected President and he had great hope for the future. I know each day in Archie's life is a blessed one and he always makes my day better. It is a new era and I have great hope for the future.
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