Our friend Lois has been in the hospital or rehab since mid-May. When life slowed down for us, following the truck rally in late June, I asked their daughters if there was anything we could do to help. Their daughter Darlene said the biggest need was for help on Tuesdays.

Cerwin took Harold to the local TFC chapels (Harrisburg and Frystown) on two different Tuesdays. Harold enjoyed seeing the truck stops, chapels and visiting the chaplains. He was a volunteer chaplain following his retirement from truck driving – until several years ago when he and his family were no longer comfortable with him driving that distance.

By the time we began helping in early July, Lois had been moved to Luther Acres in Lititz for rehab. During the first two weeks, when Cerwin took Harold to the chapels, I visited Lois and went with her to therapy.

During the following weeks, I usually went to their house about 10 am, reminisced with Harold (we grew up in the same church and share the same heritage – his mother was a Hershey), and enjoyed their yard and flowers until it was time for me to make lunch.

He took a nap while I washed the dishes and relaxed with a book or magazine, then he always had a cup of coffee before we left to visit Lois.

Each of these flower photos is from their yard.

It was good to observe her progress. There was one week that I didn’t see her because she had to go back to the hospital for a pacemaker. That week Harold and I enjoyed the yard, had lunch and visited until his sister Leah came to take him to the hospital.

Each week Harold told me he hoped this vine would reach the top of the trellis by the end of summer. It probably will.

He always pointed out the pretty, decorative door at the neighbor’s house.

We enjoyed watching this butterfly.

Beautiful hibiscus.

They live on the edge of a woods (mountain area) so there are a variety of things around the border of their back yard.

Harold made this bench from the wheels of an old field rake.

This pretty stone is part of a flower bed in their front yard. While looking at it, he pointed out a katydid on the siding of their house.

Because he often talked about his parents and childhood, we stopped by the cemetery where his parents (and mine) are buried. It took us a bit of time to find the Keller gravestone.

He stood there awhile and reminisced at how his mother was a young widow and that she took care of him twice – when he was a child and after his first wife died.

He moved back with his widowed mother and a sister after Florence died so they could help him care for his two young children.

I knew the location of these two stones – the resting spot of my Grandpa and Grandma Hershey and my Dad and Mom.

I also knew where to find the gravestone of Elijah – our grandson who died as a baby.

When we arrived at Luther Acres this week, Lois said she may be coming home next week.

I am not sure if they will need me after we get back from our road trip (late August until mid-September), but I will always treasure my summer Tuesdays with Harold and Lois.