We are now into the week of Christmas which happens on Thursday night and Friday

 TERRY

Nothing new on Terry.  She did wake up at 7:45 and is now reading the paper.  She seems to be at a good place today.  She just asked for some chips and a ham sandwich which is unusual as she often does not want to eat until noon or so.  Not sure why but to me that is a good sign.  I suspect she will nap today as I know she was awake late into the night.  At 12:30 AM she needed the commode and as I tried to go back to sleep she had the TV on and seemed wide awake.  We will see as the day goes on.

I have nothing planned for the day.  I may not even go out today and give the car a day off.  It is good to have a day without tennis as this body tells me.  I have been playing six days a week and perhaps that is too much BUT really I am pretty confident that I have upped my game to some degree.  Yes, I have days that are better than others but overall I am happy with my play.  Now I say that and it sounds like tennis is REALLY important in my life and it is to some degree BUT to just get out and exercise is a fun thing--well winning makes it more fun I have to confess.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 20, 1964

As a small beam of sunlight peeks through the frost covered window I open my eyes and glance at the clock radio sitting on the chair beside my bed.  As I glance at it I also think, "kind of a funny night stand" It is 7:45 and I realize there is NO hurry to get out of bed.  We are now going to Veblen for church and it is at 10:00 AM today.  I turn the face of my clock radio so that I can see the thermometer on the chair and see that it reads 15.  Yikes, I am glad for my electric blanket that keeps me toasty warm.  After a few minutes I open my eyes again and staring up at the ceiling I see that all the nails that keep the shingles on the roof have about a half inch of tip showing and ALL are frost covered as they make a pattern on the ceiling that would be very nice IF it was not so darn cold.  I see the clump of clothes on the floor and I judge that when I get out of bed it may take me a minute to get dressed and down stairs.  That is IF I do not need to use the 5 gallon pail in the cube that serves as an indoor toilet.  I know I can get a piece of hard lefse as I hurry downstairs so I am good with that.  But as I think about what is next I decide to try to fall asleep again.  After all I did get home late last night.  We played Ashley in basketball there which from our farm is well over 100 miles.  We had arrived in Cayuga at 12:15 AM and Dad was not there waiting which I figured so I had walked to Grandma's house and she had given me the keys to her car.  By the time I arrived home it was past 12:30 and the house was quiet and as I entered I realized that Dad had turned down the kerosene stove in the living room for the night.  The house was not cold but it certainly was not very warm.  Helen had not gone to the game as the "B" squad had played and not the freshman team so she was in bed in the east bedroom.  So here I was still tired and reluctant to get up in the cold so I turned to the wall, closed my eyes and tried to get more sleep but really only THOUGHTS came to mind instead of sleep.

• My mind went to the basketball game.  Up to now it had been our best game as we went into it thinking it was going to be a challenging game but it turned out to be an easy win.  After posting a 15-5 lead at the end of the first quarter the only question was what was the final score going to be.  I felt I made amends for the game on Tuesday when our entire team was cold and I perhaps was the coldest.  We had beaten Lidgerwood but only scored 35 points.  Today we scored 47 and I led the way with 19 on a 7 for 10 shooting night with 5 of 5 free throws.  Assistant coach Newman even complimented me on a good game.  I was a bit upset as I sat the 4th quarter as we had a big lead.  Of course I should have been happy that others got to play but really it is no fun sitting on the bench as I had done a lot of as a sophomore and junior!
• 
  

My senior year

My thoughts then went back to my junior year.  We had a very good team and went to state and placed 5th.  I was the first guy off the bench but really coach Wohler did not believe in using subs a lot.  It was a fun year but it was not filled with a lot of personal highlights.  The class ahead of us was filled with good athletes and that made it difficult to break into the lineup but it was a fun season with an ending trip to Minot for the state.  I did not get to play much in the state tournament but did play some and scored some points which was fun.

My junior year

My sophomore year

Finally my basketball thoughts went back to my freshman year and sophomore year.  John C and I had led the freshman team to an undefeated season as freshmen and it was a highlight for me when for the last two games of the season coach Wohler asked both of us to dress for the varsity that year.  Then it was kind of a forgone conclusion that we would be able to make the varsity the next year.  It turned out that we did and also Dan J made it.  

So sleep did not come but still the idea of getting out from under the electric blanket and dressing in the cold cold room did not seem like a good idea so more thoughts came to mind.

• I thought long a hard about my social life.  Living 25 miles from school does not lend itself to much of a social life but then there was always the possibility of a girl friend!!!  I should add that more than once the 25 miles trip ended up to be a long trip with a family car that was 14 years old!!! My mind went all the way back to the homecoming dance as a freshman.  Then to my sophomore year where my social life was a -0 to put it mildly!  Then to the last half of my junior year when I started dating Gail.  Then to my senior year when I got back with the love of my freshman year as basketball started.  I say "love of my freshman year but that is of course not accurate.  At that point in my life I just wanted someone to pay attention to me.  I know it sounds weak but it is what it is.  Anyway I did engage in a social life the last half of my senior year!
• As I put basketball aside my mind turned to football which was the sport I loved.  As I have said in the past my senior year it was a bust but really running, tackling and downing a player put me in my most beloved element.  
• Of course I could NOT go to sleep without thinking and missing Ronald who had suddenly died in October.  That put a cloud of grief over our family and house for a long long time.
• From that my mind went to what I would be doing next year at this time.  It came to pass that the next year at Christmas I was home with 15 extra pounds on from the cafeteria at NDSU.  What is one to do when you are used to homemade bread, eggs, venison etc and then you go to a place where day after day there are maybe hundreds of things to eat?  AND there is no sport to run it off. I am happy and kind of proud to say by the end of my freshman year I was down to my normal weight again!
• As I came within seconds of a late sleep I did think about Christmas vacation.  Coach had put us in a holiday tournament in Fargo.  I am guessing we got invited based on our state tournament appearance the spring before.  We were scheduled to play Wahpeton in the first game.  They were a class "A" school.  Then in the round robin tournament Shanley was next.  We played perhaps our best game of the season against Wahpeton but lost a close one 59-62.  The next night I think we were tired and got blown out by Shanley of Fargo.  I would say this was an important game in some ways.  My best friend Larry came into his own and became one of the most important guys on the team and I upped my game and became kind of the go to person for the rest of the season.  
• As I finally drafted off to another hour of sleep my mind went back to what would life be like after high school graduation.  I loved sports and had no desire to go to college.  BUT I knew staying at home and living on the farm was NOT an option in any sense of the word.  So I was confused, upset and in a state of "what now".  

In ending this morning I want to say I think high schools today do a wonderful job of helping young people decide on a life route.  Way back in the 1960s there was nothing to help students.  Students and parents were on their own and in my case there was NO help from Mom and Dad and so I was on a solo trip that actually turned out fine but the journey was often rocky.  I would say that If I had my life to do over of course there would be some changes but I would also say I have NO regrets and am happy with my past.  Well I guess I could say that I was a little bit over the top in needing friends while in high school but all is well that ends well!!!  I kind of latched onto people who befriended me as I always thought, as a country hick farm boy,  who would be interested in me.  I do think some of that came down to not being all that proud of our farm.  It did seem that as a farmer Dad was kind of stuck in days gone by!  BUT I have to add, as I have said in the past, Dad was an exceptional  person and very talented in many many ways.  

My FP is long gone as it is now almost 11:30.