By Richard Mabey Jr.
For me, the Christmas of 1972 was marked by a most memorable and haunting moment in time. It was a great lesson for me to learn that people come into our lives for a season and for a reason. I was 19 years old and now into my second year of college. Little did I know it at the time, but an era of my life that was near and dear to my heart, was soon coming to a close.
I grew up in the old Mabey Homestead that my great grandfather, William H. Mabey, had built in 1890. The homestead was the natural meeting place, where my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins would convene on Christmas Day.
Joan and Ray Landing were very close friends to my family. Their connection to my family went back decades and decades. They lived in Paterson. As long as I could remember, their daughter Penny and I were very close friends. During my year-long battle with Rheumatic Fever, when I was 12 years old, Penny would often come to visit me. She would always bring me a couple of comic books or the latest Mad magazine. Penny was just a year younger than me.
It was in my junior year of high school, that Penny and I actually began dating. Penny was incredibly smart and very pretty. There were times when I would look at her and wonder, “what does she see in me?” For I was enduring that awkward age of finding my place in the sun. I was a very shy teenage boy.
It was Penny who encouraged me to write. She encouraged me to write for my high school newspaper and for my college newspaper. I owe her a debt, I can never repay.
In September of 1971, I began my freshman year at County College of Morris. Penny had started her senior year at Eastside High School. I had my own car, a 1961 Ford Falcon. I thought I was on top of the world.
I had the honor of being the reporter who reviewed the Friday night movies that the college played in the big auditorium. That meant that I got free passes to the movies. And, Penny accompanied me to every single film that I ever reviewed for the old Youngtown Edition.
Penny and I were so in love with each other. We often talked about plans to get married, as soon as both of us graduated from college. I was working at the A&P in Whippany. I was making the Dean’s List every semester. And, I was dating this most wonderful and charming young woman. Life was great.
In September of 1972, Penny began her freshman year at Rutgers University. Originally, she had planned on attending County College of Morris, but her father wanted Penny to go to a big university instead. While Penny was at Rutgers, we wrote each other every other day. I didn’t get to travel to New Brunswick much at all, with working at the A&P and taking my studies very serious.
And then came Christmas Day of 1972. Because my parents were very good friends with Mr. and Mrs. Landing, it was a tradition that the Landing Family would come to our home for Christmas Dinner. They would usually arrive between two and three in the afternoon.
Penny and I had a tradition that stemmed back to when we were in eighth grade. On Christmas Day, as soon as the Landing Family arrived at the old Mabey Homestead, Penny and I would walk down Mabey Lane, then down the wooded path to the old Morris Canal.
We would sit upon the foundation of the old ice house that my great grandfather had built, over a hundred years ago. We would look out to the frozen waters of the old canal, look for deer, watch the squirrels scurry up and down the maple, elm and oak. And, we would exchange our Christmas gifts to each other.
The old foundation was the very place where I first gently kissed Penny, during the fall of 1970, when I first began my senior year at Boonton High School. It was a very special and endearing moment that I shall never forget.
So, on Christmas Day of 1972, Penny and I remained true to our long-standing tradition of walking down the wooded path to the old foundation of Great Grandpa Mabey’s ice house. After we exchanged our gifts, we talked and talked and talked. I bought Penny a beautiful pen and pencil set. Penny gave me a painting of a deer by a stream that she had painted.
After we talked about our respective college life, a silence fell between us. I held Penny’s hand. I went to kiss her, but Penny just looked down at the ground. Something had changed. It was such a hollow, eerie feeling.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, there’s this boy I met at school….” Penny quietly told me with a quiver in her voice. A dull, leaden silence fell between us.
I confessed to Penny that there was this girl who was in my English class and worked with me on the staff of Youngtown Edition. I told her that we would often have lunch together.
There was nothing more to say. A sad silence fell between us. It was to be the last time that Penny and I exchanged our Christmas gifts at the foundation of Great Grandpa’s old ice house.
Penny did marry the boy she had told me about, all those years ago. On November tenth of 2012, Penny went Home to be with the Lord. She had lost her battle with lung cancer. About a week before she passed away, she emailed me. She made me promise to her that I would never give up writing. That she had a great belief in my talent, as a writer.
Through the years, Penny and I exchanged Christmas cards. Occasionally, we would email each other. Over 50 years have passed since Penny and I last exchanged Christmas gifts at Great Grandpa’s foundation. In memory, I hold immense gratitude to Penny for her incredible belief in me. I would have probably not become a writer, without Penny’s endearing encouragement.
Richard Mabey Jr. is a freelance writer. He hosts a YouTube Channel titled, “Richard Mabey Presents.” Richard most recently published a book of poetry and short stories. He can be reached at richardmabeyjr@hotmail.com.