A battle in the forest and then, we make contact!

October 19, 2023
By Vicki Entreken

It was a beautiful 65 degree day in Hendersonville, so David and I suited up to wage war on the overgrown oak weeds, thistle, and poison ivy in our tiny forest. I was deep in the middle of it dumping limbs and cuttings when my cell phone rang in my pocket. I moved quickly to remove the garden gloves – very carefully tugging as to not get poison ivy oil on my hands. I suffered that last summer, black spots and itchy blisters up and down both arms. It’s not fun. I thought I was going to miss the call.

“It’s her!” I yelled to David.

That morning, I left a voicemail for the great-granddaughter of the original couple who owned the orphaned heirloom Bible I’ve been trying to return to the family.

If you haven’t heard the story, you can read about it here.

I’d previously sent an email to her and got no response, but that could be from incorrect source information. Who knows if she still uses that email address or if my email went into her spam folder. The same thoughts went through my head as I left the voicemail. Would the number still be active? And if it was, would it still belong to this family? To not get my hopes up any more than they already had been in past attempts, I left the message about the Bible, hung up, added her name and number to my contacts so I’d recognize her if she called, and then geared up in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, garden boots and gloves for battle.

There’s something therapeutic about ripping up ivy and cutting down small trees with a limb cutter. We found a dumping spot in the center of our quarter-acre forest last year, and that’s where excess leaves go as well. (We really need a name for this forest.)

I got the gloves off in time to answer. It wasn’t the great granddaughter, but the great-great granddaughter instead. I was delighted! I trudged up our steep slope to the open back yard and ran out of breath. Or was I too excited to breathe?

We chatted for a few minutes about where I found the Bible, who in the family I’ve tried to contact already, and that she can read about it here on Secret Boxes. We both sounded excited. Tomorrow we meet for lunch!

I returned to the tiny forest to continue clearing. I told David about the call and that tomorrow will be the big day I’ve been waiting for. My first successful orphan heirloom return!

“So, does that mean we celebrate tonight with a lobster roll?” he said.

“Oh, that sounds fantastic!” We were hitting the Cousin’s Maine Lobster food truck at Dry Falls Brewing anyway, but celebrating makes it taste that much better, doesn’t it?

Cheers to making contact!

Check out the last episode: Orphan heirloom Bible makes its way home

Thank you for reading. 
I appreciate you.
~ Vicki