Lessons from Old Women – part four – Mary Jane

First off, let me begin this week with a disclaimer.  Mary Jane is not an “Old Woman” in any way than that she is (a bit) older than I am.  Please, Dear Mary Jane, do not be offended with the title!  🙂

I’ve blogged a bit about Mary Jane Cozzens before. In brief, I was at a book signing several years ago in Encampment and someone bought three copies of Mountain Time and had me sign them for gifts.  This happens at book signings, and I didn’t think much of it at the time.  Sometime after Christmas that year, I got a remarkable email.  It was from Mary Jane who received my book as a gift and wanted to thank me for it.  It turns out, Mary Jane’s grandparents owned and ran a Mercantile in Encampment during the time frame of Mountain Time.  Mary Jane was wonderful to complement me on the book and how it reminded her of places she knew as a child.  We began to exchange emails and it became amazingly clear to me that she was a wealth of information about the area. She was instrumental in the writing of Peaks and Valleys because she supplied me with so many beautiful details about her grandparents, who are characters in it, and also sent me pictures and answered questions about them and life in Encampment.

At first, I saw our contact as a pleasant research resource.  But very soon it became clear that through our exchanges, a sweet and important friendship was growing.  We wrote to each other for over two years, then were able to meet.  A couple of months later, my friend Judi and I went to Moab and spent a long weekend with Mary Jane and her family. (See my blog from October 26, 2016).

I suppose I have given Mary Jane a fun glimpse and a reminder of her heritage and her past by writing about Encampment and asking her questions about her grandparents.  I hope I have given her smiles and joy as our friendship has grown.  What I know without hesitation is that she has given me many things in return.  From the beginning, she sparked my imagination and my curiosity with stories from the past.  More than that, she’s been an avid supporter of my writing.  She is one of the few people I know reads this blog on a weekly basis.  She is a one woman cheering squad who reminds me again and again that I have something to say. It goes deeper than that, though. Mary Jane is a beautiful role model for me.  She is giving and thoughtful.  Her life has not been easy.  It isn’t my story to tell, but the hurdles and heartaches she’s been confronted with in her life would be the undoing of many.  Not Mary Jane.  She hasn’t endured. She isn’t a just survivor.  She has triumphed  over all with never-ending energy to meet the next day, a sense of humor that I envy, and a joy that bubbles out and infects anyone around her.  I am richer because she has touched my life and I am so thankful to her and for her.