Here we are at the LAST Sunday of March 2022 as it is the 27th

 TERRY

As I write today Terry has been up and has read much of the paper.  She is now watching TV and Sunday does have fun programs to watch.  So it is one day at a time still and we are thankful for each day even tho we do so wish Terry would get better so she could walk.  Maybe but not today.  Perhaps the best we can wish for today is a ride in the wheelchair into the living room!!!  So life goes on with each passing day and as I think back on friends and family who never got to our age I give thanks for our life.

Ok so it is Sunday and often I take some time to think back, reflect and remember days in the past.  So I will do that today at the expense that perhaps I will repeat what I may have written in the past.  BUT I will say that in remembering the past I will NOT be able to climb the light pole and lie on the west side of the barn roof and dream!!!

IT IS JULY 10TH, 1960

It is a Sunday morning and no church today.  Bergen Church was served by Rev Mailing (sp) who worked for 3 churches so Veblen had services every Sunday and then Bergen and Palestine had services every other Sunday.  At the age of 13 that was GREAT for me!!!  

As I rolled over in bed and glanced at the clock it showed 8:00.  For sure it was time to get up as this was a day where I knew there were be No rock picking, no dragging and as one can figure out NO work.  I would say Dad was not the ideal guy when it came to religious things but there was one thing I really liked about him, NEVER did we have to work on Sunday.  Well as we know that is in scripture and that was what Dad went by but as the years went by it became evident that he did not follow Scripture all the time! Well for that matter did any of us in a perfect way?  

Anyway as I tumbled out of bed and dressed I had some things on my mind for the day.  As I got to the bottom of the stairs and  opened the door into the kitchen Mom was already in the kitchen and was making pancakes with a side of venison and breakfast never gets any better than that!  Mom said the food was ready so I could eat before I milked the cows.  At this time we only had 3 cows to milk and they were Shorthorns so never did a cow fill the milk pail.  As I sat down to Mom's tasty pancakes and a side of deer meat I begin to feel this would be a good day.  Given, Dave was not home for the summer and Joan had graduated from high school and was in Fargo so that left Helen and I home with Mom and Dad.  Really this was the very first summer Dave had been away and I was kind of having a difficult time with it.  For sure I knew it was the right thing as Dave and Dad were often kind of like oil and water yet to this day I feel their love for each other was more than the relationship between Dad and I.  Anyway Ronald had told Dave there was a farmer near Kulm who needed summer help and Dave jumped at it.  It served two purposes for him.  It gave him an OUT from being around Dad and it gave him a chance to earn some money.  So the farm work was left to Dad and I and I admit there was not an overly amount of work to be done but we did farm and harvest somewhere around 200 hundred acres which included Uncle Jim's land down south.  

Anyway here it was a Sunday and I knew I had the entire day to do whatever I wanted.  As I contemplated what I should do for the day I kind of got lost in my thoughts as what was a guy to do with so many options?

• I had started to make my one hole golf course in our yard and I still had some work to do on it.  I had gotten the sand from the lake and had it spread over the putting surface that I had made in the ditch near the mail box but there was still work to do.
• I had also started clearing the old old foundation from the pig barn which was west of the house.  There was much cement to break up and haul away but I knew Mom would consider that work and would not want be to do that on Sunday.
• I could get my fishing things from the shop and head up to the lake for a while.  Mom could not consider that work but if I did that on a Sunday there would be people at the lake and I really liked to sit and fish and dream when I was alone so that was out.
• I did have my glove that Ronald had bought with the $10 I gave him for the purchase.  I could bounce the ball against the barn and with that I would transform me from the farm to the big leagues but to do that I needed to rake the barnyard and I did not fell like doing that today.
• I could just bike up to the lake and see who was there but really as a 7th grader I was afraid I might meet someone I knew and I just, at that age, did not like to talk to people as I was only a year out from my stuttering problem and at times it raised it's ugly head which more than once embarrassed me.
• So what did I do?  I choose to do some work on my one hole golf course.  I was sure Mom could NOT see that as work.  So I went into the shop and searched for an old round stick.  An old broom stick would be perfect but there was no such thing in the shop.  What I did find was an old 2X2 which I decided I could use for a flag stick.  I got the woodworking knife out and kind of took care of the edges and soon I had kind of a round pole.  I then asked Mom if I could use an old handkerchief and she found one for me.  I nailed that on the top of the pole and I had my golf flag.  So by the end of the day I had my flag for my golf course and I was good to go.  
• Actually I would really have wanted Dad to hit me fly balls but no dice.  Dad's Sunday afternoons often consisted of a nap so that was a no go.  

So that was my off Sunday if you want to call it that.  As the summer went on I did clear the barn yard for my ball field.  I did finish cleaning up the old hog barn which I was so so pleased to do that for Mom.  And  of course I got my fishing in many many times.  BUT it was a difficult summer in the sense that Dave was not home so it was a lonesome time for me.  Much much later in life when Dave gave me the guitar that he made for me he mentioned that it was kind of pay back for leaving me alone on the farm those last two summers of his high school days.  Of course he did not need to do that as even though I so so missed Dave in the summers of 60, 61 and as he left home in 62 I did understand why and I did not feel abandon as he mentioned years later.  I should add that Joan graduated in 1960 and left for Fargo.  So between Joan leaving and Dave working away from home it felt pretty lonely.  Of course we knew Joan would be leaving as she graduated but it did come as a surprise when Dave went west to Kulm to work.  I know it was for the best but at the time it left a void that was not filled in any way.

So here I am in 2022.  Life goes on with memories being remembered and memories being made.  I do thing that is what life is all about.  AND perhaps it does put really meaning to "one day at a time"!!!

My FP is long gone and I look forward to the day ahead.