Hippo Birdie Two Ewes.
November 17, 2021
A special birthday edition of life on Cape Cod as I know it.
About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Many will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you at all. But, remember always that friendship is love made bearable.
― Rita Mae Brown
~~~~~
The date was September 2009. The place(s), Arlington, Virginia and Orleans, MA. My friend and fellow Wheaton College alum, Ro Morrissey, insisted on introducing me to her next-door neighbor. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. In an effort to be agreeable, I said yes to a virtual meeting of sorts. Little did we know at that time how commonplace such things would become in a little over a decade. Ro sent an email to me, copying Rebecca Stephens. The rest, as they say, is history.
Becky and I talked (at length) by phone initially. Between visits to the Cape, I’d get text messages and long emails from her on a regular basis, keeping me up to date on all things Cape Cod. Becky’s missives are the stuff of legend. What I failed to understand back then was that encapsulating ALL of the Cape’s news was part of any normal day for Becky. Like any other collector of local lore, driving from Orleans to Sandwich to Truro, all on back roads, was just another day in the life for her. She loves to drive. Hopping in the car and going to Boston for dinner is rather commonplace behavior. Distance is relative. For Becky, it’s never the destination that matters. It’s the journey.
Twelve years have passed. The little blue teddy bear with the Cape Cod Tee shirt, which topped the extravagant WELCOME HOME basket in 2009, still sits in the sun in the dog room. It greets me every day. Becky (and Margie) are central to this essential family of friends we occupy. In fact, I dare say, Becky has been the gatherer of this collection of disparate souls. We are all part of a peculiar whole, everyone contributing special gifts. Over the years, Becky has been the Pied Piper, the Ring Master, the Emcee, rounding us up for beach parties, dinners, cocktails, Symphony events, dog shows, and so many other shared moments that knit us together, more tightly with each passing year. A woman of Texas, though not initially a native of it, Becky early on adopted the grand scale of the Lone Star state of mind. For large holiday dinners or small get-togethers, Becky arrives with enough food to entertain a group of a size that requires valet parking. Feeding two is not in her wheelhouse. Twenty is preferable. No one will ever go hungry on Becky’s watch. Like her adopted state, Becky’s heart is also huge. It knows no territorial boundaries. When you enter into a contract of friendship with Becky, which is quite easy, you are enveloped by a nurturing soul, who quite simply wants you, and all of her friends, to be happy. Friendship with Becky is a tenured position. It lasts a lifetime, including retirement benefits.
So, dear Rebecca, I know this has been excruciating for you. You who hate any celebratory efforts on your behalf. Too bad, darlin’. Suck it up, buttercup. We love you. Get over it. In recognition of this extraordinary day of your birth, I will close with the immortal words of Sandra Boynton-
Hippo Birdie Two Ewes; Hippo Birdie Two Ewes, Hippo Birdie Deer Becky, Hippo Birdie Two Ewes.
