How the Southern girl stole the limelight in the North
When the kids and I moved from the South to New England, we settled in New Hampshire, in the quaint town of Exeter. What a gorgeous town, with old buildings, historic houses, and a bandstand in the middle of the downtown intersection. I was in heaven.
The town is perfect for walking—through the neighborhoods to the town center to browse the shops and restaurants. Our new old house was perfectly situated for walking. We could walk to the nearby forest, river, and hospital where I worked as a labor and delivery nurse. The boys would bike for miles; one summer day, they biked to Portsmouth, about 20 miles from our house! Daniel was ten and totally exhausted by the time they got home. They only did it once!
One day, we all went to the town forest to bike. David and Daniel were mountain bikers, but Lizzie and I decided to hike instead. When we returned home, we discovered all the windows we had left open were shut. “That’s odd,” I thought. We were all curious, and the children created many scenarios as to what had happened. One theory was that an earthquake had occurred and knocked all the windows shut.
We went to Mary Lou’s house next door to ask if she knew. Yes, she knew what had happened. A train carrying toxic chemicals had derailed a few blocks from the house. The Exeter police, not finding us home, had entered the house and shut the windows to keep out any toxic fumes. Mystery solved.
Curious, the kids and I headed out to find the train wreck. There was a buzz of activity around the wreck, and the kids and I made our way over the fence to get as close to it as we could. Yep, I’m a nurse and should have been thinking about the toxic fumes, but I could only think of adventure! We talked to several people to get a better grip on the story. One was a news reporter from Boston. Now, that was exciting. I was talking to a real live news reporter. In a couple of minutes, he asked if he could interview me. Wow! An interview!
“Sure,” I answered.
I remember I was wearing a gorgeous blue linen blouse that really stood out and I wondered if that had attracted him. Who knows?
During the interview, he asked how close we lived to the wreck and if I was at all concerned. My answer included my concern for my boys, who often biked here. After the short interview, he asked me to come down to the van to ask a couple of questions. We headed to the van, and I asked if it would be on TV.
“Yes,” he replied. “Tonight at 10.”
Woohoo! I’m going to be on television. The kids were ecstatic.
That night, we watched the interview. Within a minute or so, the phone rang. It was my friend Linda from Atlanta.
“I just saw you on the news,” she shouted.
I could not believe that my interview aired in Atlanta! Fame!
The next morning, as I walked into the labor and delivery unit, I was met with many smiles and a, “Oh, my gosh! We saw you on TV! And we just have one question for you: How did a Southern girl with her Southern accent become the representative of our New England town? Now everybody’s going to think we talk like you!”
Wasn’t that fun? You know, you never know what will happen when you climb over the fence!
But you don’t want predators like me climbing over your fence. Deer fencing is super at keeping predators out. It’s designed to keep the smaller guys out at the bottom while being tall enough to prevent the deer (or me) from jumping. You can check it out here: deer fencing.
Always feel free to call Terry @ 978-486-3116 (tap to call). She loves to talk to you guys!
Warm regards
Debbie Page
CEO, Louis E. Page Inc–Woman-owned business and Family-owned since 1893. (It adds up to over 131 years owned and run by our family. Think about it: Nobody stays around in business that long without really supporting customers so they want to come back!)
