It was one of those wake you up in the middle of the night phone calls. Still about half asleep, the phone call was from Southwood Nursing Home. The nurse regretfully shared that Ms. Micki had passed away.

Terri and I were both surprised when we received the phone call a couple of weeks ago. Terri had just spent time with her mother only a few hours earlier, and I had visited her the day before. While Ms. Micki was not doing well by any means, her condition appeared no worse than it had been for the past few months. Evidently, Micki Cottle just went to sleep that night, and then woke up in her new heavenly home.

Micki Cottle, don’t call her Shirley, was Terri’s mother. During the past fifteen years, Ms. Micki became a dear friend that I enjoyed spending time with. She always would ask me what I was writing about for that week, and what else I was doing. She even called me, “the good one,” I think primarily to aggravate Terri. So it was a privilege when they asked me to lead Ms. Micki’s graveside service down at Rose Hill Cemetery.

Micki Cottle. That name may sound familiar to some of you, and you may remember that she also wrote columns for this newspaper for many years. She also wrote for other newspapers in this area. Yes, it’s ironic that my late mother in law was also a writer for the Sampson Independent.

Ms. Micki had a way with words. I was always envious of her descriptive writing. She could use those flowing phrases that you could just shut your eyes and see two old folks holding hands, sitting on the front porch, or a little girl riding her bicycle back at Quantico.

I thought I’d let Ms. Micki finish this column with a few paragraphs from one of her writings I found from several years ago. I used the following in closing out her service, saying that I think it was not only good advice to her friends, but to all of us. Here it is:

“As you set out on this trip, I hope your road is a long one, full of discovery. Don’t be afraid. As long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body, your trip will be a good one.”

“May there be many, many summer mornings when with great pleasure, great joy, you will find as you enter harbors, the bazaars, the market places of life. Some you’re seeing for the first time. Pause and smile, beauty calls to you on every side.”

“Don’t hurry your journey at all. Better if it lasts for years. So if you’re old by the time you reach your destination, you will be wealthy with all you have gained on the way. Life offers you a marvelous journey. May you become wise, yet humble. May you laugh more than you cry. May you cherish through all your rainy days the precious friendship we’ve shared.”

“And now this journey is over for me, too short, always too short. But it was filled with adventure and wisdom, and laughter and love, gallantry and grace.”

Ms. Micki closed it out simply: “So farewell, farewell my friends, farewell.”

Farewell, Ms. Micki, we’ll miss you.

Mac McPhail, raised in Sampson County, lives in Clinton. McPhail’s new book, “Wandering Thoughts from a Wondering Mind,” a collection of his favorite columns, is available for purchase at the Sampson Independent office, online on Amazon, or by contacting McPhail at [email protected].