Blast from the Past

Boy, what a day! What surprises it held for me!

I had plans in place today that I was going to meet the nephew and great-nephew of my Mom's older sister's husband and a cousin of theirs for lunch up at Jim/Charmaine's so that isn't the big surprise today held for me. But a visitor who showed up at my house around 1 p.m. today was a total shock to me.
I was gathering up my clothes to take into the bathroom so I could get dressed after a nice little shower when I noticed a red pickup truck with a cap had pulled up in front of my house. I could see a man on the passenger side peering out the window, looking at the house as if to decide if this was the right house or what. He got out, started down the walk and I met him at the door. I asked if I could help him thinking maybe he was looking for someone and I could give him directions.
To my surprise, he responded, "Yes, I'm looking for Jennifer Hill."
I laughed and replied to him "Well, you found me!"
The look on his face was something else - this huge smile as he started to explain who why he was looking for me. He mentioned his name so quickly, I didn't grasp it but then he said that as a kid, many years ago, he used to come here for a week or two every summer and spend that much of his summer vacation with his great aunt and great uncle (not a couple - they were brother and sister) who lived down the street from my house here.
It was at that point when it all registered to me who this was and I practically screamed out his name - "RICKY!"
The smile broadened even more.
"You remember me," he asked?
Oh my, yes indeed I do! And the funny part about all this is that only a couple weeks earlier I had mentioned to my neighbor and good friend down the street - Kate - about Ricky, if she remembered that kid from down around Philly area who used to come up here every summer and stayed with his great aunt/uncle - Axel and Frieda Johnson - who by the way had been the previous owners of Kate's house too, no less!
He had a friend with him - Drew - who he introduced to me and then, he began asking me questions about various people he'd known way back when - all kids we had played with probably close to 50 years ago!
This was something that really, really made me day complete. How great to have someone you haven't seen since you were a little kid show up on your doorstep, out of the blue, and realize that other person enjoyed and still remembers all the crazy, fun things we used to do here to pass our summer vacations from school.
He told his friend and traveling buddy how much he had loved coming here, looked forward to these visits. And I remember too how some of the other neighbor kids and I used to bug Axel and Frieda, his uncle and aunt, about as soon as school let out asking how soon Ricky would be coming up for his yearly visit here.
And, if you remembered what I told you before you left to go back to Philly today, how to find my blog here and if you're reading this, I just want to say thank you so much for stopping by and surprising the living daylights out of me today, Ricky!
Come back again sometime too - just don't wait another 45 to 50 years to make the trip!