Father's Day, 2011

After weeks of encouragement to begin blogging, I decided today, Father’s Day, 2011 would be a good day to accept the challenge and to post my first entry.  This way it should be easy to remember when I started blogging.  Laurie reminded me that it was similar to my decision to shave off my mustache the day the Pope visited Denver back in August 1993.

My blogging will likely take many unpredictable paths.  Some days I may blog about what I’m doing or something going on in the family, or maybe about something in the past.  I may offer an opinion about something I read, or post about something comical.  I’m sure there will be no discernable pattern to what I write, but it might be possible to categorize them after the fact. 

Since post #1 is occurring on Father’s Day, it’s appropriate to comment on a Fatherly topic.  Two things happened this week that demonstrate how past actions have an impact on children. 

The first pertains to gardening.  I grew up on a farm and we always had a big garden, with peas, beans, tomatoes, sweet corn, rhubarb, cantaloupe (muskmelon), watermelon, cucumbers, radishes, potatoes, onions, beets, carrots, and probably a few things I’ve forgotten.  We also had fruit trees; apple, cherry, mulberry, and apricot (the cherry and apricot trees died off when I was fairly little).  While we don’t have space for all these fruits and vegetables in our garden, I do have peas, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, rhubarb and pumpkins.  Anyway, earlier this week Emily tweeted that she and Rich were enjoying tomatoes in their salad, fresh from their patio tomato plant. Today Adam tweeted a photo of lots of fresh garden produce including cucumbers, squash, beans and chilis.  The implication is that the farming gene has been passed to my children even though they grew up in town.  Laurie is a proponent of flower gardening and has planted a beautiful portrait of various plants and flowers with her talents, which were acquired from her Dad.

The second thing that demonstrates how past actions have impacted our children relates to a call from Rosie on Thursday.  She was at the store and called to get my opinion on what drain cleaner to buy.  She was taking it upon herself to solve a slow draining bathroom sink!  I told her that the way to fix the problem was to take the ‘trap’ under the sink apart and to clean it out since it probably had a collection of hair and gunk that was causing the problem.  Before long, she was under the sink, disassembling the trap and solving the problem.  In my ~20 years living on the farm, I don’t recall ever having a plumber at our house (we may have had to call one).  We fixed problems by doing-it-ourselves.  That experience has stayed with me and my first reaction when something breaks is ‘can I fix it?’  Our three children take that approach as well.

One more item and then it’s time to stop.  We have a written record of the past 32 years of family activity in the Big Letter that began on April 27, 1979.  I’ve decided to try to summarize each year into one page of highlights. The first year, 1979, appears below.

1979 – 1218 North 146^th Plaza, Omaha, NE  68854

April 27, 1979 – the start of the big letter

Highlights: Supper club, Helen, gas is $0.759, up from $0.629 in December, transplanted rhubarb from a friend who was moving, big strawberry crop (froze > 20 pints), redwood planter with geraniums for Laurie for Mother’s Day, family photo at Richman Gordman, Laurie resigns from teaching at BelAire Elementary, refinish chest from parents (now in our bedroom), Laurie plays cello in a wedding in Grand Island, bucket newspaper grill, Laurie has a tooth ache, Kristen, Michaels daughter, flies from Denver to Omaha but the plane was hijacked and the guy wanted it to fly to Cuba, Larry attends tax class at UNO, Laurie paints shutters, Laurie’s parents go to England with George and Elta, Billie Jo and Jerry adopt Jay, couple in supper club moves to Texas, Larry plays poker occasionally, attended UN-KU football game with Sid, is introduced to governor Thone, in a car pool and rides the bus home from work if working late,  Laurie gets a call from Omaha Public Schools asking if she’d teach strings, declines, but later accepts part time position for Dist. 66., our Christmas tree comes from Cathie’s farm.

May        Adam discovered his hands

June        Adam chews his hand and arm a lot and drools all the time

               Lines at gas stations

               Decided to add room and deck to our house. Cost approx.$10,000

July        Laurie played a concert in Des Moines

              Maple Lane, caught over 100 fish 8 different kinds

August    Laurie and Cathie go to Sidney and return with needle work, furniture, etc.  Adam stays with my parents on the farm.

Laurie buys 2 oak tables in Kearney (round one now in kitchen, square one now at Silverheels) and a wardrobe in Lexington (now in Rosie’s room)

We go to The Muppet Movie for our anniversary

Sept.      At 6 months, Adam weighs 18 lbs and is 28 inches tall, undergoes a tear duct probe at Children’s Hospital

              Laurie plays for Camelot at the Omaha Playhouse for 4 weeks

              Room addition is complete; we paint it, as well as the house exterior

October  Laurie is pregnant, miscarries; baby would have been due May, 1980

              Larry moves to corporate budget job at NW Bell, often works late

              Laurie joins UNO orchestra

Nov.       Notice bump on Adam’s head on a Sat. night on the farm, called doctor, take him to Children’s Hospital Sunday, had a cracked skull

              Host Laurie’s parents for Thanksgiving

Dec.       Laurie decides to teach part time for Dist. 66, Tues. and Friday.