How I met Arthur

It is funny how you can live near someone famous and know of them, without actually meeting them.

My family and I lived for 15 years just down the road from Mill Valley. I would ride past on my Australian Pony, and she would nicker at the horses when they were in the arena.
I had seen Arthur and Bonnie with their cowboy hats and thought them to be American because they dressed like cowboys.

The ranch was such a fabulous place, looking like a village. There was something special about it, you could feel it in the air. Arthur and Bonnie were highly regarded in the area, like royalty. I would have loved to be involved but did not know how.

Fast forward to 2022, after two years of lockdowns, our business had suffered greatly, and I decided to look for work. An admin position at Mill Valley opened up – when I got it, I was the
happiest 50 something girl alive. There were a lot of things for me to learn, but for the first time ever I started wondering as to
how the place even got started.

Bonnie and Arthur had retired, I was told. His picture hung in
the dining room, albeit without a plague. I asked whether the history had been recorded, and suggested I would like to do so for the website. But I was told there was no time for that.

Then I found out that Arthur and Bonnie lived in an age care home just around the corner from where I live. Right, I said, I should go to visit them then.

My time at Mill Valley came to a sudden end, much to my dismay. Actually, I was heart broken. But I still wanted to meet Arthur, and I had purchased a calendar from the ranch, as a gift for him. This became my mission. I had to think of the song of Smokie ‘living next door to Alice’, and I didn’t want to waste my chance to meet Arthur and learn about Mill Valley’s history. I felt compelled, that is the only way to describe it. I am not a bold person, and repeatedly found myself wondering how he would react, because he didn’t know me the way I knew of him.

Now Calendars really need to reach a person at the beginning of the year to be enjoyed, so when January came to an end, I knew I had to get this visit done, I had procrastinated long enough with my insecurity. Twenty seconds of courage, right?
My little courage was bolstered by the first resident, who waited outside for a taxi. Then by the first carer who directed me to the right area, and finally the second carer who brought me
to his room without further ado. There he sat in a comfortable chair near the window, an elderly man now but still with an upright posture and a kind face. He invited me in, I gave him the calendar and introduced myself, explaining that I had worked at the ranch and wanted to hear about its history.

We started talking and I sat spellbound, because Arthur knows how to weave a tale. He told me how he met Bonnie, the love of his life. It is movie worthy. I felt I was sitting with a national treasure, a man filled with wisdom who had led an amazing life.

When he finished’, I found myself asking; “Arthur, is this written down anywhere?”
I thought of his family, how lucky they were to have such a beautiful man. Arthur shook his head sadly.
“No one has time. And I don’t know how to use a computer. I have enough trouble working one of these” he said, pointing at his phone.
Well…I wasn’t working anymore and had burned out. I love writing, and I always wanted to be a writer. “If you like, I could write it down
for you” I offered. It would be a quick little project, I thought. Just a few pages.
Arthur didn’t reply. Had I stepped too close with my suggestion? I saw him blinking hard. “You are the answer to my prayers!” He then said. No one had ever told me that before. I felt humbled. He then told me how he had wanted to write his life story, but never quite got around to it, and now found his hand too shaky. I offered to come back next week. “Would you?” He asked. I said I had computer and writing experience though I had not published anything but I was willing to write. He shook his head and stared out of the window for a while, before saying “in my life there have been all those cogs that have come together, bringing me forward.
“Maybe I am one of them”, I said quietly. I really wanted to have a new purpose in my life.

The thought of the magnitude of God bringing us together send shivers down our spines. So, it was agreed.
I did go back the following week, bringing my computer and making notes. One of the carers came around with a tea cart, and Arthur introduced me as “this lady will be writing my book!”

The week after, he came to my place, which we found suited us better. My mum liked listening to his stories, too, and Arthur likes an audience. He would talk and I would record one story leading to the next. Later I would write everything down. Over time notes became chapters, and I created a chronological order, because the stories came from all different time spans. But once the years were established, a beautiful tapestry unfolded of God working in Arthur’s life. How everything fitted together, “dovetailed” as Arthur liked to say, referring to joinery in cabinetmaking. (Dovetails are joints where the wood is cut into a tooth and gap pattern, and two pieces can be joined this way to make a draw, holding fast to each
other for many years.)

Through our weekly meetings we got to know each other pretty well, sharing the weekly news with each other, laughter and sadness alike. It took us eleven months of meeting every
week, and myself writing up to two days a week, to get his story down.

One day Arthur asked me who would be doing the editing. As it turned out, one of the first people I became friends with after migrating to Australia had become an editor, and she
helped us make the manuscript into a proper book, helping us to clarify points, correcting my sentence structures which slip into the German style at times, and helping us on the way through the publishing process, which has taken another year.

Arthur and I learned a lot along the way, working on each step of the journey together. A team effort with my daughter, Jacinda, working with us as well, our editor and the publishing company. While the writing was fun, the editing was serious work, and the publishing process was challenging.

Up ahead, God willing, is the actual printing of the book, after we approve the final layout. This will be followed by marketing and distribution. We have preorders to fill before Christmas. Next year we should be doing book signings together. I hope our journey will
continue together for a long time.

Meanwhile, I started this blog to keep his friends updated, and to keep writing his stories and teachings.