TO THE EDITOR

Thanks for including "Dear Hearts" in your paper every week.

This may sound sad to some folks, but I live for Thursday afternoons, when I get home from work, open my mailbox, and there sits my trusty Lincoln Journal. You see, I am one of the "lost souls" who left Lincoln County for college and never made it back. I have regretted my hasty departure since that college graduation, more years ago than I'd like to recall.

The Lincoln Journal is my critical and vital connection to home. For all of its typos, inverted articles and titles, and sappy little "who visited whom" passages that I dearly love, and for which I am often teased by city folk, the main thing that keeps me connected better than anything else is Mickie McGee's "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" column. The heart and mind behind the creative genius are what make her worthy of this letter.

The older I get, the better I relate to Mickie's stories and anecdotes about being from a small town...this small town. My weekly dose of "Dear Hearts" keeps me grounded and truly connected on days when I really need to feel close to home. The long-ago tales recalled in the lines of her column take me back to lazy afternoons sitting on the front "poach" (yes, that's how they said it) at my grandparents' house, singing hymns and listening to the same old stories over and over, yet never tiring of them.

Every week, Mickie's words take me back to simpler times, before cell phones, pagers, and the Internet. Her brutally honest, no-nonsense way of looking at every day life reminds me that, in this modern society where everyone feels they must be so "politically correct" in everything they say and do, sometimes there's just no better way of expressing the truth than just throwing it out there and telling it like it is. There's a life-lesson nestled between the lines of every one of Mickie's columns. She reminds us of what is really important in a time when we so often forget.

Mickie and I grew up a few years apart, but we share very similar memories of church and family. I love the way she honors our friends and loved ones who are no longer with us. She helps them live on in our hearts as we take them with us in our daily journey through this life. When my husband sees me reading The Lincoln Journal with tears in my eyes, he often wonders if it's because Mickie was so hilarious this week, or if she has once again touched my soul with a heart-warming story of days gone by. But he doesn't ask. When I'm done reading, that city boy will read for himself. Yes, Mickie has groupies from the city, too!

It is very clear to all of her fans that Mickie McGee is incredibly talented, honest, and most importantly, she is real. What a testimony for us all! She truly is a treasure to Lincolnton and Lincoln County.

ANGELA BENTLEY HERMAN

EVANS, GEORGIA