TERRY
Terry woke up about 20 minutes ago and is now watching TV. Of course there were some things to do after she woke up but all are taken care of and we are good for the day. She usually is not hungry early in the morning but I will need to figure out something later on as I have No plan for the day.
I was to play tennis at 7:30 but rain wet the courts so no play. For some reason I do have tennis at 1:30 today. Phil, the pro, suggested I play with some people this afternoon so I will get to play today.
This could be a dangerous day. No tennis this morning and my mind is full of ideas so maybe or maybe not they will end up on the blog!!!
I am enjoying my FP in my new "go to" cup so maybe it will be a good day. For some odd reason thoughts have been going through my mind of day gone by, I mean gone gone gone by. So I may just sit and type and what comes out may be now but it may also be a repeat of writing long ago or even not so long ago!!!
It was April 7th of 1966. I was out of class at NDSU by 1:00 PM and looking forward to a long weekend. I had been able to schedule my classes for spring quarter so that I did not have any on Friday. I had enjoyed that as it gave me more time to work my part time job as a janitor at the dorm where most of the jocks lived! When I arrived back at my dorm I found, to my surprise, a letter in the mailbox. As I read it I was surprised. Mom had written and asked if I could come home for Easter. She went on to say that Dad was coming to Fargo on Saturday and could give me a ride home. With Easter on Sunday I figured that would be a good thing to do. I knew that Dad was not in a good place as Ronald had suddenly died in October of 64 and Janet had just died two months ago. Mom went on to say that Dad would be stopping in at Joan//Ron's Saturday afternoon and IF I could come home with him he would give me a ride back. As I sat and pondered the letter I somehow felt there was something behind the letter that was not in words and so I decided that I would go home. Dave/Marlys had invited me over for Easter Sunday so I biked over to their place the next day to say I would not be there. Saturday came and I worked for 4 hours in the dorm as I needed the money but then hopped on my bike and headed to Joan's after lunch. Dad arrived mid afternoon and by 5:00 PM we were home on the farm. As was often the case shortly after I got home Dad headed into his little hideout (darkroom) and the door closed to stay that way for most of the evening. After supper Mom and I sat in the living room and she asked how school was going and did I like college. Well to be honest college was NOT to my liking but for the present it kept me out of the draft so college it was. I was not about to tell her that my grades were less than great. NO, I was not even close to being put on academic probation BUT I was far from being on the honor roll too! Finally towards the end of our conversation Mom popped the question, "Would you come home for the summer"? It took me by surprise so I did not answer right away. I looked away from Mom and stared out the east window towards the groove of trees with the gravel road behind those. When I glanced back towards Mom I noticed some tears on her cheeks. She then went on to say Dad had been in a tough place ever since Janet died. She said it was almost unbearable for her to go through Ronald's death and then Janet's as well. She then said she thought it would be really good for Dad if I could come home and work for the summer. She said of course they would pay me. After several minutes of conversation I blurted out my answer. I said, "Mom, I can come home for the summer BUT I would have to have some form of transportation. In my mind I knew that I could NOT be isolated on the farm at the mercy of Dad's car for transportation. Mom said she would talk to Dad. I never heard another word about it the rest of the weekend. We had our ham and scalloped potatoes for Easter dinner and then mid afternoon Dad said he could drive me back to Fargo. STILL no conversation about me coming home for the summer. As usual Mom stayed home and Dad and I left about mid afternoon. The silence in the car was almost like being in the middle of nowhere at midnight and no lights! Then as we took a left hand turn at Lidgerwood and headed north Dad started to talk. He asked me IF I would be open to a motorcycle for the summer. He said he had been to Aberdeen SD and they had a Harley dealer there and there were three 250 cycles that he thought were pretty nice! After thinking about it for a bit I said that would work BUT I did not have the money to buy a cycle. I said that knowing that IF I was careful for the next two months I may end the school year with $200 plus in the bank. I had figured that after school I could continue to work at NDSU for the summer and that would set me up pretty well for the next fall. Dad said he would go to Aberdeen in the next week or so to see what they still had. About two weeks later I got a letter from Dad saying they had a 1964 red Harley Sprint that cost $400 and and 1965 black Harley Sprint for $500. Dad said I could get either one and he would pay for it and I could pay him back when I got the money. With a fair amount of caution I told Dad I could get home in two weeks and then we would see.
The story does not end there BUT I did go home and April 23rd of 1966 I drove my black Harley home from Aberdeen with, it seemed, a wind at my back. There are many many stories related to my Harley. They include having a drunk back into me. Staying at the lake with Gail over night because of a rain storm and finding out later Mom and Dad had gone out in the middle of the night looking in the ditches. I still can remember riding many places with Gail's arms wrapped tightly around my waist. Finding a safe place for shelter as we hit a rain storm after the movie in Milnor and then getting a ride for the last several miles in Chic's truck! AND of course I remember my very last ride on it the morning of our wedding. I took my cycle out of the shed and rode up to the lake. After riding around the lake and into the country to dry my tears I drove into the yard at our farm and handed the keys to Dad. The end of my motorcycle days and of course if I had known what lie ahead I would say the best was yet to come!!!
I got so into my story that my FP got cold. I need to heat it up and then find out if my $1.98 in the stock market is up or down as the market has now been open for 20 minutes today!
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