Letter to the Editor

Gracious fair-goer appreciates hometown hospitality
 
To the Editor:
     Last week, my husband and I visited Hampton in order to go to the Franklin County Fair. We are big country music fans and we were only in town for the Friday night and Saturday morning events.
     We were super excited to see the Montgomery Gentry concert, and my mom was letting us borrow her POP passes for the night. As we got up to the grandstand gate to go into the show, I looked in my purse to see the POP passes were missing. I panicked and got frustrated with myself for losing them.
     We frantically retraced our steps to find them. After 15 minutes of not finding them and me in tears, we trudged back up to the grandstand gate to reluctantly see how much individual tickets would cost. I felt awful. Not only did I lose my mom's POP passes that she had spent money on, but we would now have to pay a lot more to get in. My husband was understanding, but I just felt like crying.
     We walked up to the ticket desk and asked how much the tickets were. The ticket taker happened to be Barb Furman, who I know from church and other childhood memories. She greeted both of us with a big smile and said, "Jamie, how are you!?" Not only was I frustrated at myself at the moment, but I'm also a known crier and emotional about things like this. I looked her in the eyes and said, "Actually, not very good. I just lost my mom's POP passes. But we'd like two tickets, please.”
     Barb didn't hesitate. She looked at the other guy helping with tickets and she said something like, "This is what those were for." I didn't understand what she was saying, but she turned and said to me, "My brother is sick and couldn't come to the concert. You use his POP passes. He'd want for someone to use them. "
     I immediately cried more and said something weak like, "We couldn't do that," but she insisted and argued that they wouldn't be used otherwise.
     As she ushered us through the gate by using her brother's POP passes, I continued to cry. Ironically, the band Montgomery Gentry was playing their song "My Town" as we found our seats and I was wiping my tears away. I turned to express my feelings to my husband when he said, "That was awesome. You have an awesome hometown where people trust each other to do that." I couldn't have said it better.
     I just wanted to say thank you to Barb. Thank you to Barb's brother and I'm praying that you get better. Thank you to the Franklin County Fair workers and volunteers who helped make it a great event. Thank you to God for making awesome and caring people. And thank you to Hampton for being the best hometown a girl could have.
Jamie (Wirtjes) Lashier
Ames