Our Earthly world lost an Angel on Valentine’s Day, and Heaven gained a shining star. Donna and I were Leopard majorettes together and spent time twirling (with fire) and being “typical teenage girls” in the 70s. My favorite memory was a camping trip at Broken Bow Lake with her family. Our days were spent skiing and ‘ laying in the sun’ slathered with baby oil and iodine (ANYTHING to amplify the TAN). At night we star gazed and listened to the fish jump…This is where our story begins.

We heard this fish flopping and making all kinds of noise, on a fish line. This fish, this VERY LARGE catfish, was extremely unhappy (or so Donna and I thought). Who wants to see an unhappy catfish? Not the two of us. No way. No unhappy fishes on our camping trip. So, we let him go. We woke up the next morning to Mr. Brewer bellowing “GIRLS, WHERE’S MY CATFISH??????”. Hmmmm. Donna and I went to the fish line and meekly informed Mr. Brewer that we had let him go. And, Donna said, “Daddy, he REALLY didn’t WANT to go. We had to chase him off. He (Mr. Catfish) REALLY wanted to stay.”

As if informing the grownups that the fish REALLY wanted to be Coach Turners and Mr. Brewer’s breakfast would make things “all better”! Mr. Brewer was not mad, in retrospect, he just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that ‘ The Girls’ had let his approximate two-foot catfish GO! Along with all of Donna’s family, friends and everyone she touched, I will forever cherish my memories of ‘Moe’.

P.S. We used to sing “ I feel the Earth move” …. under my feet!

–Jeannie, February 2023