The Story of Lynn

Lynn was full of surprises. It was quite a shock to me the day she came home from school and said, "Mom what do you think about an exchange student living with us for a year?"

Well, I did not think that was something that I wanted to do.

I said "We will discuss it with your Dad." I am sure she already had a plan and would figure out the way to get it done. The three of us discussed it and took a family vote. Lynn and Bob won. We looked at pictures and profiles and decided on Anna from Sweden.

Anna's interest included cooking, gardening and playing the piano, three things I especially enjoyed. I thought," this could be fun". As it turned out, Anna did not have much time for those interests. Anna was 17, gorgeous and would not be able to drive in this country. This would be a challenge for me. Although the schedules did not always match, we made it work. It proved to be a wonderful experience for Lynn and also for us. They got along quite well. One time I do remember a bit of a problem. Anna parents had sent her some caviar in a tube, and Anna chose to have it for breakfast. Lynn had to leave the room.

The two girls learned a lot from each other. Lynn spoke with a Swedish accent and Anna developed a southern drawl. It proved to be a very fun year.

When the year was over and time for her to return to Sweden, Lynn made Anna a scrapbook of her year in America. One could see Lynn's sense of humor as she captioned under one of the of the pictures in front of the Magic Kingdom at Disney world "Our Summer House"! It was truly a great year.

Coleman was Lynn's paternal grandfather. Lynn called him" Coleman" because when we asked him what he would like for us to teach her, he said "Coleman, that's my name". Coleman had a pool table and Lynn loved playing. She also liked to win. She and her cousin B.K. learned to play pool together.

I did not give much thought that shooting pool was anything more than a pastime. Anna came home one afternoon and asked if we were going to the pool tournament. She said Lynn was competing and not just with her own age group. I think they were pool hustlers. She won several tournaments and money, too, I think! Her dad was mighty proud, and he bought her, her own custom pool cue.

Lynn was very creative. She always enjoyed drawing and coloring. When she was quite young, she did a watercolor of a mushroom for my Christmas present. She asked her Papa to take her shopping for a frame. It is still one of my favorite gifts, it hangs over my computer.