GOOD GOLLY, MISS MOLLY!

New Castle CVS Pharmacist Molly Radford, all smiles, as always. This time it was after giving me a ful shot.

There's a lot of flu and other illness going around these parts of central Indiana right now. And while I don't usually get sick too often, I'm one of those who when hit with the flu, it's lights out for a week. That said, guess what I didn't get in the fall and forgot about during the holidays?

So after work tonight, I stopped by the New Castle CVS and got my flu shot. Better late than never, right? Let's hope so. But it's not the injection I want to talk about. I want to speak of the pharmacist who administered it.

She is Molly Radford and I have known her since, well, since before she was born. The daughter of my former boss and forever friend, Darrel and his wife, Becky, Molly has never been without a broad smile. Of course I don't follow the Butler University grad around all the time to know that for a fact, but I can't think of a more perennially pleasant young woman than Molly Radford. I think Darrel would probably confirm that his girl came into the world smiling!

Through the years I've seen her in a variety of settings in real life and on Facebook. Always, that smile is present. And so it was today when she gave me a SHOT!

I'm happy not only that she is now a pharmacist, but is engaged to be married!

I remember the week she was due to be born. We were in a newsroom-staff meeting and somehow, Darrel's cup of water fell over, soaking the floor. I said, "Darrel! Your water broke!"

Well, it was funny at the time.

Earlier in the day, I had another similar moment to the Molly one. My boss, Katie Clontz, said something about her children. I said, "You know you're old when you remember when your boss was a little girl." Actually, Katie was a toddler when I showed up at The Courier-Times.

And now my boss and my pharmacist are all grown up and productive citizens and I can say I knew them when. I could feel sad that I'm old enough for such things or comment on time flying or some other cliche. The truth is, it's kind of exciting to see another generation serving as community leaders in a new way, in their hometown of New Castle, Indiana. Kind of like the world is in good hands and all that.

I wish both of them everything good. I know their parents. I know where they came from. They've done their folks and their community proud.

Must be a sign ... in the New Castle CVS. Congratulations Miss Molly!