A Vacation Reunion, and More

Over lunch at Olive Garden, my husband and I decided to get a kitten and name her Olive, in honor of where we were. Olive is now two years old. Last summer, she spotted our new neighbor’s cat in our backyard. Olive is smitten with him, and he with her. They sit together for hours. When she doesn’t see him, Olive paces the house and continues to look for him, even in the dark. His name: Popeye. True love is Popeye and Olive (Oyl). —Donna Powell Rich Kennebunk, Maine

The Need for Speed

As a teenager, my grandfather dreamed of having a horse. His father didn’t understand why, but he reluctantly agreed to let my grandfather work in order to earn enough money to buy one. I have a cassette tape of my grandfather talking about his boyhood longing for a horse, of “the need to mount a steed and ride against the wind at full speed.” To digitize this recording, I enlisted the help of my 16-year-old son. When we finished, my son asked, “Now do you understand why I want a car?”

—Loretta Evans

idaho Falls, idaho