Last Sunday in February AND already the 8th of the year

Day 129, "Every picture has a story"

My 1966 Harley Sprint that took me to places I had not dreamed of and in style too!

AND

The date was June 19, 1966.  It was the third Sunday of June which meant it was Father's Day.  I was home on the farm with Mom, Dad and Helen.  I had finished year one of college at NDSU in Fargo.  Ronald had died in the fall of my senior year at Sargent Central and Janet had died in February of this year.  I had experienced life away from the farm and decided that I had no desire to spend more time there.  After all our farm was dilapidated with old old equipment and I felt that there were better places to live for sure.  I later would come to realize that I would not trade my upbringing for any.  Mom had said Dad really would like me to be home for the summer.  HOME, that was the very last place I wanted to spent my summer.  BUT there was a catch.  I said I could not spent the summer at home unless I had wheels.  Mom relayed that message to Dad and he came up with the idea of a motorcycle.  So it happened.  I had time off for Easter so on April 9th, a Saturday, Dad and I drove to Aberdeen SD to look at Harley Davidson cycles.  Dad said he would pay for most of it and I could pay him back at some time.  I had the choice of a 1965 red or a NEW 1966 black.  Black it was and I hurried to the car to get a coat as I would drive it back to the farm that day.  Oh it was chilly BUT I did not notice as I had WHEELS.  So towards the end of May I finished the college year and headed home on my WHEELS.  It would be a summer to remember as I, for the first time ever on the farm, had freedom to go.  Dad paid me $500 for the summer work and I knew I would be good to go for the following year in college.  I had borrowed some money for my freshman year and would do so again for the next year but I also had a different job starting the fall of 1966.  It would be in the "work study" program and I would be working in the barley department.  I could work up to 20 hours a week and get paid $1. an hour.  For me that was an improvement over my janitor work in one of the dorms.

But I digress.  Today is June 19th and Father's Day.  I have not been to town since I came home from college and therefore have NO gift for Dad.  After church (we now had church every Sunday in Veblen) I approached Dad and held out my hand.  In it was the key to my Harley.  I told him my Father's Day gift was the cycle for the day.  The lines in his forehead slowly disappeared and the corners of his mouth quickly spread from cheek to cheek.  He took the key, turned as he mumbled a thank you and that was it, we did not see Dad again until after dark.  I spent the day hitting golf balls from the house to the road.  Of course Arnie beat Jack and Gary as he always did.  I did look for familiar cars as they passed on the road going to the lake but I did not see anybody I knew.  Midway through the afternoon I had to use the 55 gallon barrel to find the lost balls in the tall grass to the south but that did not take a lot of time.  I remember Mom was a bit worried as darkness came and no Dad.  I turned the yard light on and sure enough, about 9:30 I heard my Harley coming up the half mile gravel road to the farm.  Dad never did say where he went but by his demeanor over the next few days I knew he had enjoyed his Father's Day.

The summer went quickly as I spent as much time as I could on my cycle.  My friend Larry and I would often cruise the country as he had a 350 Honda.  When I finished the summer work and headed back to Fargo I knew it would be a good year as I now could leave my pedal bike on the farm and use my Harley for transportation.  

As I remember back to the summer of 1966 one thing sticks out.  Dad never said one word about Ronald or Janet.  I guess his grief was ALL kept inside and I am sure it festered there to the end.  Somehow I feel that grief needs to be let out so that healing can take place and I doubt Mom or Dad ever allowed that to happen.  If it were today---I think it would be different but then one can never know.  I do think both Mom and Dad were different people after Ronald and Janet died.  AND perhaps everyone in the family was different in some way.

We continue to warm weather here with temps in the mid to high 80s.  I am thinking NO tennis yesterday or today is a good things.  With morning matches on Monday and Thursday and team matches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday it will be a FULL tennis week.  I can play 90 minutes of tennis in a morning match and be a bit tired but a 90 minute team match has me exhausted.  

I did splurge a bit as I usually do on Sunday.  I had 2 cups of FP with Irish Cream in and yes they were very good.  I finished off the pot of FP with heavy cream in the cup.  Enough.