Happy Birthday, Anne Paton, Wherever You Are

Anne Paton was my best friend in England, and one of the main reasons I didn't want to move to Canada. She, like myself, was an only child, and about six months younger than I. We met at the weird school; the one with the porta-potties. Classes were held in different parts of one huge room. I think it may have been a church, at one time. The playground was a construction site, and the whole thing was just not what one would expect of an English school.

Anyway, when Mom and I got back from Canada in October of 1955, Dad had bought a new house. One of the bonuses of that was that Anne lived just down the road. Within bicycle distance, once I finally managed to pry Dad's hand off the back of the thing and let me go.

Anne and I were pretty much inseparable, and both went to Abbotsford School for Girls. I first learned about Davy Crockett (king of the wild frontier) and "The Yellow Rose of Texas" listening to the old 78s on her parents' record player. We played cowboys and Indians, and her dad had an old WWI round army tent that he set up for us in their back garden. The Patons had a little stream that ran alongside their back acre, and we spend many happy (though very chilly) hours slogging about in it, making dams, and channelling trickles of water in different directions. They also had a television, which we did not, and I got to watch "Howdy Doody" at her house. When we left England, she gave me a dress of hers that I had always coveted. It was powder blue organdy, with a tiny ruffle at the neck. It was important enough to me that I chose to wear it when we disembarked in Quebec City.

Anne and I stayed in touch by letter all through high school. I heard about her learning to drive a tractor. She gave me the heads-up about the Beatles. Somewhere around here, I have a wedding picture of her, and a snapshot with her two boys.

I registered years ago at the UK equivalent of Classmates dot com, in an effort to find her, but that was several computers ago, and I have lost the link.

I hope she has a wonderful birthday, surrounded by her sons and their families.

Every year on this date, I shout out, "Happy Birthday, Anne Paton, wherever you are!"