Eleven-year-old Eleanor Ludlow had her own kinds of questions for Col. Harry Lee, her cousin who with his wife Maggie would be looking after her and her younger siblings while her grandparents were away.
“Well, I know they are basically going down the street and around the corner, but still,” Eleanor had confided to her best friend eleven-year-old Velma Trent next door. “I think Cousin Harry is a wonderful man, but still, only Papa is Papa.”
“Yes,” Velma said, “so ask the questions you need so that you feel you can be fair to the colonel.”
So, Eleanor found a moment when her six younger siblings were doing other things with their friends the Trents or interacting with Cousin Maggie to ask Cousin Harry a few questions.
“I know that you are a whole colonel, Cousin Harry, and so of course you are a highly responsible leader of men. But that's the thing. We're kids, and you don't have any, so, is this all going to be something of a big experiment for all of us?”
Col. Lee considered this question carefully, and then answered it.
“I can't dispute your assessment, Eleanor,” he said in his soft, full tenor. “You have a good point.”
“For example, you're not retired, and you're running for office, so you're not going to be around like Papa is. How do you plan to overcome that? We're a needy bunch of kids because we've been through a lot. Andrew and I know how to keep it together, but we can't ask that of George, Edwina, Amanda, Grayson – well, Grayson was actually sort of born with his life together, it seems like – but Lil' Robert makes up for that!”
Col. Lee laughed.
“He does – there's just too much Robert Edward Ludlowness in him for that little body of his, so he can't get all that together and it may be 20 years before he can,” the colonel said.
“So, what's the plan, Colonel?” Eleanor said.
“Ever seen competitive row boat in the Olympics?” he said.
“Yes – looks like it is hard work, but a lot of fun.”
“It looks to me like the Ludlow unit is already moving in the right direction, so, for eight weeks, you will just have a new coxswain sitting up there keeping the time.”
Eleanor considered this.
“From the outside looking in, do we really look like we are going to make it?”
“Yes. Every Lee from here to the mountain is your backup, so, yes, y'all are going to make it, because Hilda Lee is your great-grandmother. As your sister Edwina is always saying, we don't play about ours, so, failure for y'all is not an option.
“As for my work schedule, Covid-19 means that a lot of my election work now is on Zoom, and so is my work as a precinct captain in a quiet neighborhood. So, like your grandfather, I have to put in office time here, but I will not be gone many days of the week. Now, as a precinct captain, if something big goes down, I have to go in – but we are only 20 minutes from the precinct even at rush hour, so, at least five full days and one half-day a week, barring really serious crime, I'll be right here.
“Now, about that first part, Eleanor; I am a father, but my son and my first wife went to Heaven from the delivery room.”
Eleanor forgot all about questioning mode and just ran and embraced her cousin.
“I'm so sorry, Cousin Harry!” she said.
“Don't be,” the colonel said. “God knew what was best for them, the way things were in our world then. The point I am making is you are right. Maggie has the same concerns; I don't really know how to be married, and we are figuring it out … so, indeed, we are all sort of adventuring together. But, know this: with God loving us and helping us all learn how to do this as we love each other, I think we will make it.”
“You know what? ” Eleanor said. “I like that idea. I've never been eleven before, but with God's help I'm figuring it out, so, yes, I think I can work with that.”
“Can I tell you something on a top secret basis?” Col. Lee said as he looked both ways.
“Sure!” Eleanor said, and leaned close.
The colonel lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
“Everybody is just figuring it out, because God is the only One Who knows the future … but He blesses us to be able to figure it out with Him and others loving us as we do this thing called life together.”
Eleanor thought about this, and then smiled.
“You know what, Cousin Harry?” she said. “You're all right!”
“Glad I meet your standards, Eleanor,” he said with a smile. “I'll do my best not to let you down as we figure all of this out in the next eight weeks.”