My friend, the Republican is alive and well in Kansas!!

I have a friend in Kansas who is a Representative in the Kansas Legislature.  He is a Republican.  Joe Seiwert and I have been friends for a very long time.  Not sure how I met him, but I do know that the highlight of any trip to Kansas is meeting Joe at Skaets Steak Shop on the corner of  23rd and Main right in front of the fairgrounds.  Rarely do I ever meet a man that has the same sense of humor that I have, but Joe is one of them!  And we laugh and laugh!

He is a farmer or was.  I think he has now turned his farm over to his kids and I assume he is still a Representative, and I am sure he is still a Republican.  (They never seem to change!)  I do know that when I know I am going to Kansas, I put the word out and Joe and I will meet for coffee!  We actually discuss things like wind farms, state of the union, economy and the upcoming election.  Every cell phone I have had sports a picture of Joe and I at Skaets right up until the one I carry now.  I have not been back to Kansas for several years.  I do miss those trips, but life seems to be holding me here.

What I can not get straight about this whole Democrat/Republican snarling is why it has to be that way.  I have a list of friends and family that I have unfriended on facebook because they tend to want to shove their beliefs down my throat and it just isn't going to happen.  Joe seems to understand and be able to see both sides of the argument.  He never turns red and calls me stupid, which I sure appreciate!

But this is not about politics, it is about a strange friendship between an old woman who is a Democrat and a very stalwart Republican that have enjoyed a 10+ year friendship even without speaking for years at a time.  I had fallen heir to a bunch of cheap jewelry several years back and in it was a little golden tie tac which is an elephant.  I immediately thought of Joe.  It rolled around the desk a while.  Then I put it in a cubby hole on the desk.  The little grandson found it and wanted to play with it, so I decided it is time to mail it to Joe Seiwert, my Republican friend.    There really is no story to tell, it just is what it is.

So, Joe, every time you wear this, think of me!  I will be in Hutch this summer come hell or high water and I will be most happy for you to buy my lunch!  And until we meet again, 

May the road rise to meet you and the wind be ever at your back!  I love you, my friend!