TERRY
As I write it is almost 9:00 AM and Terry has been awake since about 7:15. I do not know what is going on but she was SURE she needed attention this morning but after I got out of bed to help her I discovered there was nothing. Not sure what that is about. I would say she is about the same so will continue to take things one day at a time.
There is little to nothing planned for the day. Somehow I did not get on the court schedule today so no tennis. I may get on the bike just to get some exercise in but that does not replace tennis.
I need not go to the store as I made a trip to Costco yesterday. I did a "lazy" thing. I purchased a couple of boxes of breakfast sandwiches that are frozen. They are so easy and so fast so that is why I use the word lazy. Not sure they are very healthy but the one I ate today had only 230 calories so that is a good thing. That is IF I do not cheat on the side of food between now and lunch and then dinner. I should really have NO problem losing weight as we ALWAYS skip supper. Oh I guess we just changed the name to dinner so skipping it is not real!
I tell you it is so so nice now that I have the calendar hanging right in front of my face at the desk. I can not believe all the time in the past it was hanging on the wall to my right and in shadow so it was so hard to see. I am surprised I do not have a permanent squint on my forehead from trying to read it. BUT now in a quick glance I see yesterday, today and tomorrow!!! I am wondering If or HOW family has them hanging as I sent out many including I think 10 to sister Joan. As I mention her name it brings to mind that I miss our family. Of course there are only three of us left out of the eight and even that would be understandable as the years go by but even the three of us are so spread out it seems we live a million miles apart. Yes, as Lees or other names that Joan and Helen have all of us have family, friends etc etc but it would be nice to get together once in a while. Maybe in the coming year we can do that. I felt I could not leave Terry last fall which meant we did not get together then but maybe in the next year or so. AND of course in family I include Judi/John, Glorine and Marlys as well. I don't know IF Judi reads my blog but if she does I know she is so happy that I now spell her name correctly!!! Why did Ed and Opal not use Judy??? I do not even know if I spelled her Mother's name correctly but I add they were a grand couple as we were able to spend a bit of time with them when both of us lived in Devils Lake.
I saw bad and good as I stepped on the scale this morning. I was pretty sure I would be UP as I thought I ate too much yesterday. So the good was I was not up. The bad was I was not down either! Another try today and we will see how I do tomorrow morning. I will share part of my life as I sign off today.
It was Thursday, March 4 of 1965
It was a cool late winter/spring day as with kind of a happy feeling we boarded the bus for the first game of the district basketball tournament. Coach Wohler had his hands full from Monday on. We had a successful season until the last couple of games. Big Dan, our center, was hurt and we really did not have anyone of his size to take his place. Dan had played in our second to last game against Edgeley, a team we had defeated in a close game in late January, but he was hurt and was not himself. We came out on the short end of the score 54-66. Then came the last game of the season against Lisbon. They had defeated us in the very first game of the season 53-50 bit really it could have gone either way. BUT in our last game it was a disaster to put it mildly. Dan did not play and pretty much everyone else was not good and the final score of 31-53 showed that we were a hurting team for sure. Coach Wohler did his best, in the three days leading up to our first district game, to put a positive spin on the upcoming tournament. We played in a district which was comprised of teams to our east so we played none of them during the season. We were seeded in the top 3 but what did that mean, not much. With records the way they were we were seeded to play Wyndmere AND the tournament was in their gym. The game was at 3:00 PM on Thursday. Well we came out fighting but with Dan out of the lineup we were in for a dogfight and in the end came up a point short. That meant that we knew our high school days of playing basketball were now consist of only one or two more games. If we won our next game on Friday afternoon we would play for consolation on Saturday. If we lose that we would be done. It was a long time in showering and dressing as the disappointment was deep and hurtful. Here we were from a school that had gone to the state tournament the year before and now we were relegated to playing consolation BB at the district level to end our high school career. At the time my very best friend was dating Pat from Rutland and I was dating Joellen which had been on/off/and then on again during our high school days. Coach Wohler let the team know that he would be watching the game following ours as we would play the winner on Friday. I suggested to Larry that we take a walk into town. So as I gripped Jo Ellen's hand we headed out to explore Wyndmere and try to shake some of the disappointment off. Larry and Pat joined us aswe walked the streets of Wyndmere for what seemed like a long time. You can guess that the girls were supportive but really it was a gloomy afternoon at best. We actually got to the far side of town and climbed the steps of the grain elevator where we sat with long faces and little talk for some time. I had a million thoughts go through my mind. Yes, we had at least one more basketball game and maybe two BUT the thought was "My high school days are over. Well of course we had about three months of school but really sports WAS high school to me. In looking back "for sure" I should have spent more time with the books but for me at that time a "B" average and a place on the honor roll was OK but the REALLY important thing was sports and I admit I had a girl friend too. As that thought came to mind I actually was realistic enough to know that the girl friend also may be a thing of the past as my high school days eneded. It was most likely a passing thing in my life. I squeezed Jo Ellen's hand and she looked at me as if to say, now what??? I just tried to smile and said that I was happy to be with her. I maybe even have said I loved her but really what high school guy knows what real love is??? I found out much later in life that I did indeed know what love was at that time but somehow "young and foolish" came into play. Finally after a couple of hours sitting and walking we headed back to the bus which was about ready to head back to Forman with stops at Cayuga and Rutland first.
The next day, Friday, we again played in the afternoon as one would expect consolation teams to do. We played Hankinson and we felt, after brooding over our lose to Wyndmere, that maybe we could end up our high school on somewhat of a positive note. With Dan's doing somewhat better we took care of things on Friday in grand fashion as many of the starters sat out much of the 4th quarter in a laugher. That somewhat lighten the air but of course not entirely. The consolation championship took place again in the afternoon and on Saturday. It was against Lidgerwood whom we had defeated early in the season by a score of 53-48. We anticipated a tough game but it was one of those games where it seemed like I or almost any other player could put the ball in the air and have it come down in the basket. In perhaps a bit of luck or maybe a bit of redemption I scored 26 points in a shooting display that was rare for me. Many years later I found the clipping from the paper that Dad had cut out of the Lidgerwood monitor paper and saved. BUT do you think he complimented me?? Yes, you are right as he never mentioned it!
Anyway it was biter sweet as my football and basketball days were over. I had so so so much fun during the four years and I know there were many more positive notes than negative's so that was a good thing. I could note that the gal I dated went off to be a summer counselor at camp so I did not see her all summer. Stupid me I felt maybe, just maybe, it was a relationship that would endure for a long time but actually I got lucky!!! Gail reentered my life that summer and the rest is history in a GOOD sense.
I share this as a memory that had it's ups and downs and perhaps more than a bit of naiveté that seems to go along with youth!!! Would I do things differently IF I were young again??? Perhaps but then that is senseless to go there, right! To end this I would say that I was a very lucky guy in high school. Yes, I could have done things differently but then if one could live their life in hindsight I am not so sure that would be good either!
From time to time I pull out the annual of our senior year and reminisce about "what was". I know in my mind I was a VERY bashful young guy but as I look at the annual I see so so many things that tell me it was a very wonderful time in my life. It seems that I mingled with and worked with so many people from football, basketball, class of officers to band officers to letterman's club and the list is actually a bit longer.
So it is time to sign off for the day. I am kind of guessing that not many readers will get to this last sentence as they may have fallen asleep in trying to read it all. So I should say something really important BUT really I have nothing important to say today! No tennis, the FP is almost gone and no real plans so will just sign off with a thankful heart for a long life but yes as I say that I remember Ronald, Janet and Dave.
No comments:
Post a Comment