Recollections and thoughts on life in Minnesota and the midwest... My Catholic faith, my family, travels, the state. Occasional ramblings about an old smoker and the quest for perfect barbecue.
A conversation with my four year old grandson, Ben. Christmas 2024.
Ben: Grandad, why do you have that turkey thing on your neck.
Me: That's because I'm getting old.
Ben: You ARE old.
Me: Yes I am, I guess.
Ben: Why do you have that turkey thing on your neck?
Me: When you get old your skin gets loose.
Ben: But why do you have it?
Ben: You're old.
Me: Someday you'll have one and maybe your grandson will ask you why.
Ben: (laughs) Un Uh!
Not a long list, but a fun one. A very good year for travel. Below is any city where I spent the night.
Below are the books I read in 2024. Those with an asterisk were excellent and I would read again.
Perhaps the most surprising book of the year was the memoirs of General Sherman. I did not expect the prose of a Civil War general, written 150 years ago, to be so clear and meaningful.
The biggest waste of time was the Time Chain series by Decker. I kept thinking it would get better but it never did. Time travel paradox, etc etc. Imagine you're 19, in love, and traveled into the future. You meet the one you love, who is now 70ish.Would you still be in love? Hardly. Yet it happens here. Waste of time.
The Graham mysteries were very nice though only the Brits can take a whole page to describe a handful of flowers along a sidewalk. Nice murder plots but skip the gardening minutae. .
Last week I became 68 years old. Three score and eight. My grandaddy always said "I just want my three score and ten, like it says in the Bible" He got a lot more than that.
Anyway, looking back on the eights, here goes. Roughly as I told it to my kids and their kids after blowing out 68 candles (true).
When I was eight it was 1964. I lived in Pensacola. 3rd grade. Had a younger brother who was almost six, and a new baby brother. I think my dreams/plans in life were vaguely to 1) be a good Christian 2) Have a good family 3)Not be poor 4)Be somebody. 5) Play for the New York Yankees. Simple difficult goals.
When I was 18 it was 1974 and I had graduated from HS and moved to St. Petersburg Florida. Sacked groceries at Publix in the Northeast Shopping Center. Started college in early 75.
From 74-84 I sold Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door. Sold Bibles and kids books door to door. Sacked groceries. Ran a gas station at night. Maintenance crew and dining room crew in college. Landscaping. Day Camp Counselor. Sold Iinsurance. Sold Investments.
In 1984 I was 28 and one of the toughest periods of my life, thus far, was over. The Dark Years were past. I had written my last hot check. There was a little money in the bank and I owned my first house. Finally found something I could do, which was investment stuff. Started by selling it, later managed it. I was married and my oldest child was four. This was the year I paid off my $2000 student loan, $30 at a time. Doesn't seem like much until you're three months behind and the college is getting ready to turn you over to a collection agency. I was very involved in numerous political campaigns.
In 1994 I was 38 and lived in St. Louis. My wife Robin and I now have three children. Daughter 14, son 8, daughter 2. A good happy time. My maternal grandparents and my parents were still alive. I had earned a difficult professional designation and had some letters after my name on my business card. Since 1984 a man I knew had been elected President and I had been a delegate to the national convention of our shared political party. Robin and I went to a Christmas party at the White House. Around this time I stopped my political stuff and focused on family and career. The Soviet Union, that nemesis that had me scurrying under my desk in grammar school, was no more
In 2004 I was 48 and lived in Minneapolis. Career events I did not anticipate sent me north. It was wonderful, eventually. By this time my grandparents and my father had died. My oldest daughter was in Law School. my son was in college and my youngest daughter was in middle school. I was traveling a lot for work and for a professional organization of the investment world.
In 2014 I was 58 and lived outside Minneapolis, on a lake and thinking about retirement. My son was married and I was a grandfather. My youngest brother had just finished year one of a five year war against cancer.
In 2024 I am 68. My three children are all happily married. I have 5 grandchildren. I am even more happily married than my children for I have been able to convince a wonderful woman to stay with me for 45 years!!! I have joined the Catholic Church. I am retired. I play the banjo. My youngest brother has died of cancer (One might say the cancer beat him. Welcomed into the glory of his heavenly Father, I doubt he would put it that way.) As I write this I am canning green beans from my garden.
It feels odd. Watching employees of the State of Michigan play football against employees of the State of Texas. Doesn't sound much fun does it? The day is early but all the lead-up to this seems out of place, out of time.
The old conference structure is gone. Replaced by one that will not last nearly as long as the one it replaced.
Money has a way of pushing things around. It disrupts, in both good ways and bad. The employees will make demands. The marketplace will make demands. The state will make concessions, for a time.
Will we still be able to pretend this is "best for the student-athelete"? Probably not.
Then it will blow up.
A hobo on a park bench reading The Wizard of OZ.
Some boots owned by Hank Williams Sr.
The grave of Johnny Paycheck
I saw a basket of wafers and a carafe of wine become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our risen Lord. Jesus Christ.
Yes, indeed.
Truly, Truly.
A basket of wafers and a carafe of wine became, before my eyes, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ.
Sunday morning August 4. 740 am. Holy Cross Catholic Church. Omaha.
Saw the eclipse on April 8th. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Amazing. No clouds. Clear sky. Totality for 4+ minutes.
The advice on viewing was constant. 'Don't look at it or you'll go blind". This is true but something in me wanted to look at it, just to be sure. And so did my four year old grandson, Ben. Like his granddad, he did sneak a peek, but just a quick one and survived, as did I.
Something about the way that advice is given. You are only told not to stare at the sun when an eclipse is upcoming. I guess that means that we assume people are smart enough on normal days, but somehow turn stupid under the power of the eclipse.
On a bright sunny day, Moms of the current age might call out to their kids, "put on sunscreen", "don't stay out too long", "drink plenty of water", (in the 60s they said none of these) but she will never cry "Don't Stare at the Sun!!!"
Johanna - This week you let me put you to bed. I wanted to and you did not object. What I really expected was for you to point to your Grandmother. Almost always this is what your brother and cousins would do. But you just went to my arms as if this was the most normal thing. We read both nights, The Lady with the Aligator Purse and Fox in Sox. Each three times.
The most wonderful part was when it came time to rock you and sing to you. You nestled in my arms as I sang Jesus Loves Me, over and over. I thought of all the times I had held my own children in this wondrous routine. I felt your love and trust and comfort in my arms. I don't have good words for this. To be at your home, to be surrounded by one you trust and have the beginnings of this feeling we call love. To know the comfort that comes when fully cradled in the arms of a grandfather.
Perhaps it will not happen in this life, but there will come a time when I will once again know this peace. I have long forgotten what this is like, but if there is any good in me, the seeds were planted at times like this. When my Dad, or my Grandad, or my mother held me. When my whole world loved me. It will come again.
1. Put dishes in the dishwasher without washing them first
2. Set the thermostat where I want it
3. Keep the TV on hoops all day
4. Leave house with the TV on
5. Watch Sharknado 2
6. Turn the living room into a banjo studio/sports center
7. Refreeze meat I've thawed to cook and then changed my mind
8. Eat her snacks
9. Drink too much coffee
10. Shave on the couch while watching hoops
11. Miss her
Fourteen years ago I wrote a post about places I liked to shop. It's interesting how things, tastes and places changed.
The 2010 list