An Extra Ordinary Life
Lucinda’s columns were not the type that are normally found inside a travel publication. Rather than simply exploring parts of the state, they also explored her childhood and formative adult years, sharing lessons learned from previous successes and failures with her children and grandchildren—and her readers. We tagged along as she dropped her daughter, Amanda, off at college. We shivered years later as she helped Amanda’s son, Ryan, build a snowman. We watched in awe as a beekeeper removed a hive that had taken up residence inside the wall of her home.
Each column ended with a poignant snippet of wisdom gleaned from those experiences and a reminder that regardless what was happening in the world around us, those trials were but a bump in the road.
“Life will skin your knees. That process steels our resolve, forces us to push through, and that is a vital gift.”
And she reminded us that as insurmountable as the obstacles we face might appear, there is someone else looking up from the bottom of an equally challenging mountain.
“Too often we exhaust our energy dancing to the illusion that our little world is the only one.”
Think back to what was happening in the summer of 2000 when she wrote that first column. A presidential election was underway, and little did we know what the next president would face in the waning days of the following summer. Her words are just as significant today as they were then.
“This is a place where the future doesn’t need to devour the past, and the powerful have not eliminated the weak. Radically different ideals have survived within our borders.”
Thank you, Lucinda, for reminding us that hope and despair are defined by our attitudes, and that there is no shortage of friends willing to help us along the path.
After all, this is Missouri.