Peggy Dover

Let me just say, it’s nearly impossible to type with an 18-pound cat sitting on your stomach, staring straight into your eyes, and purring. 

I try typing around his ample belly and he doesn’t take the hint. It’s Cricket who is the culprit here. He doesn’t help me think or give me good ideas, either. But he is warm and cozy on a chilly spring day. 

I type lying down because of back issues not allowing me to sit at a desk like normal writers, if there is such a thing. Cricket, and sometimes Eddie, copycat that he is, take this as an invitation to have a lie-down, too. I see Eddie eyeing the target area now. I refuse to make eye contact. 

Who I really want to write about this week is my good friend Lane Hall who has been an integral part of my stories and adventures over the years. I know many readers are curious as cats about our relationship, so I felt it was fair to share a little about it. 

Lane and I met 18 years ago this June. He was hosting a one-man art show of his beautiful work and filling the ballroom of the historical U.S. Hotel in Jacksonville. Since then, we’ve grown close as platonic friends. One year follows on another and this is what happens — decades pass. 

We have been there for one another through each of those years with all the ups and downs they contained. I enjoy helping to promote his world-class artistic ability and percussion gift. He’s also an accomplished conga player and drummer (currently looking for gigs). Lane has helped me wade through some of the darkest losses of my life by being there. He heartily supports my writing endeavors, and never fails to ask how my writing is going, attending every book-signing he can. He has buried at least four cats for me. 

We’ve traveled to places neither of us would have gone if we hadn’t had the companionship of or the idea from the other. His art gift opened the door to New York City twice to attend reception dinners at the American Watercolor Society International Exhibit held at the famed Salmagundi Club. He was admitted into the show on the first try and has gone on to win awards there, becoming a signature member and selling his work. 

We have traveled all over the Southwest, sometimes walking around carrying artwork into high-end galleries in Scottsdale, Taos, Santa Fe, and parts of Colorado. He found representation in all four locations and enjoyed years of shows and sales at Total Arts Gallery in Taos until they had to shutter their doors after being a top fine art gallery since the ‘60s.

We have enjoyed so many adventures to other towns and country places, we’ve lost track of what happened where. I should have kept a journal. We know we listened to our favorite tunes all the way there and back. Music is a huge and important part of our shared life.  

We’ve listened to the gripes, fears and elations of our lives together and apart. So, the obvious question people sometimes ask is, why haven’t we married? We chuckle and say we don’t want to ruin a great friendship. It’s pretty true. 

Both divorced, neither of us are very interested in marrying again. It isn’t that kind of relationship anyway. If someone should come along to turn our heads in that direction, we have to remain open to the possibility. It’s not the same as having friends of the same sex. The new love interest likely wouldn’t understand a friendly trip to the coast. I get it. So does he. It makes life complicated at times. 

We’re single and free, yet we would each hate losing the kinship we’ve grown to rely on. 

The most important aspect we share is our faith. We can discuss deep topics and share questions and fears with a common belief and an eye to the eternal hope. 

For the month of April, Lane Hall is the special guest artist exhibiting new watercolors at Art Presence Art Center in Jacksonville. The reception is from 1 to 4 p.m. this Saturday, April 5. 

Lane will be there to answer questions and discuss his work. I’ll be around part of the time, cheering him on.

Peggy Dover is a freelance writer/author. Reach her at peggydover@gmail.com.