The past belongs to everyone who was there. What do you remember? ADD YOUR STORY
your stories
Maureen was one of Liz’s best friends in high school, one who Liz wrote about recruiting to babysit seven-year-old Diana for a summer so that she could spend it with her AP French class in Angers. This is Maureen’s story:
“I lived with the Welches the summer before my senior year of high school, when Liz went to France. Coming from a strict upbringing, I was looking forward to experience the freedoms Liz had. No adults! No rules!”
“Along with grocery shopping, and driving Di and Dan places, I experienced the pain of listening to my friends mom suffer through the night and the inability to offer relief or comfort through either medicine or a tender touch.
Mrs.Welch had a long hospital stay that summer. I thought Dan should have some rules – a curfew. He must have thought I was a freak. The Welch kids had done just fine raising themselves this far, who was I to tell him how to live- no adults, no rules. Aunt Eve, Mrs.Chamberlain, and Mrs.Stewart checked in. Casseroles and kind notes were dropped off. In the end though, decisions were made at the kitchen island – by Amanda, Liz, Dan, and Diana. Four kids, acting as adults, making their rules. What stays most in my mind is, amidst all of the sadness, their home was always filled with unconditional love and uncontrollable laughter – a great rule to live by.”
I was a member of the Running Fox Pony Club with Amanda. We held meetings in the Welch’s pool house in Bedford. The memories are a bit faded but my impression is that they were very kind people and they had a beautiful place. I was a bit younger than Amanda. All of us young pony clubbers idolized her and her beautiful horses. I remember that she had a great sense of humor and was an excellent horse woman. Can’t wait to read the book.