I am still not caught up on my sleep and cannot locate the “tired” button to push. I have a doubleheader today and will have a brief break back at home before returning to the Schuster Center for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD which is packing in the enthusiastic audiences.

    Thursday afternoon, No. 17 did not appear, and I contacted a Lyft driver. His name was Dale and he was retired. Dale lived all over the United States and finally settled in Dayton, Ohio for the last part of his career. However, he had, at one time, lived in Herndon, Virginia!

    My neighbors, when I was growing up, were Dick and Betsy Herndon. Dick grew up in Hope, Indiana which was where my Barmes ancestors settled in 1834. One summer, a Hope resident invited her niece, Betsy, to stay with her. Betsy was from Herndon, Virginia, and came to stay with her Aunt Bush Bush (the aunt’s name was Ruth, but Betsy could not pronounce “Ruth” and it came out “Bush”) one summer.

    When Dick and Betsy would leave town, I would watch their cats, Abigail, Otis, Gnawbone, and others. I remember that Betsy would write her thank you notes on cards that had a copy of the Herndon, Virginia train depot. Several times, when Mother or the sons and I would pass through Washington, DC while returning from the Outer Banks, we’d pass through Herndon, Virginia so I could see the train depot.

    My grandfather stopped by our house to share with us he had made a trip down to Hope, Indiana, and went to the cemetery where the caretaker showed him the Barmes family graves and shared stories with him about our family. When Dick learned of this meeting, he exclaimed, “That caretaker is my grandfather!”  We got to meet Dick’s grandmother who knew my third-great grandfather who fought in the Civil War and was best friends with his younger daughter. When my grandfather walked into the dining room of her nursing home, she shouted, “Oh, my goodness, you look like Jesse Barmes!” Jesse Barmes was Grandpa Leroy’s grandfather, and she knew him as a young man.

   In the end, we discovered that we were distantly related to the Herndons!

    Dale also told me his family came over from Bavaria, Germany. I told him that if our trip downtown lasted long enough, we might figure out we’re cousins!

    It is time to get my day moving. I have a number of things to accomplish before heading uptown.

Make it a great day!