Last night we attended a celebration for the retirement of long-time Creston High School football team and teacher Dick Bergstrom. It was held at A&G downtown - put together by our former neighbors the Owens boys, Eric and Ethan - both good players who went on to play at Division AA Missouri schools.
It seemed like mostly players from the '90s who showed up. Not sure how people were invited besides Facebook - that's how I found out. McKims were there and Eric and Ethan's folks. Plus all of Coach's assistant coaches. Lots of people to talk to!
Dick was coach for nearly 30 years and touched a lot of lives. Amy bonded with him more than Jud - as he oversaw the weight program in the summer. He appreciated her work ethic - he recently dropped off a chart from her frosh summer. She didn't miss a day of weights. She did her work/study in his classroom.
Jud wasn't as big a fan, as he played for him. He didn't really grow until his junior year and got no breaks in playing time until they discovered he was an awesome punter. Someday he'll realize he had a special coach but for now he's still too young to see it. Coach B touched a lot of lives and is a really good guy. I'm glad my kids know him.
But today, instead of that, I found myself thinking about a couple of divorces of those kids that I heard about last night. Jed Gammell and Sarah Coen were a couple high school sweethearts that seemed to be made for each other. They got married after college and had three sons. I was stunned and saddened to hear last night that they've just gone through a contentious divorce.
And one of the Owens boys, Eric married a local gal, Aimee Hilger only to divorce a couple years later. I heard about that last year. Again - I was shocked. It's been a few years since that happened and I'm glad for Eric that he's engaged to be married this fall. I noticed Eric's parents hugged some of his former in-laws at last night's event. It's nice that they're all still civil.
So during today's 5 mile walk, I lamented to myself about these young people. What happens? Why don't their marriages last? There are lots of ways for a marriage to fail - how can we count the ways? Impossible!
Some people just aren't meant to be together - it's evident from the start. But what about those couples that seem perfect for each other. And then they aren't? All through life we grow and change. When one partner changes in a way that isn't acceptable to the other, the marriage breaks down. Or unfaithfulness (and there are many ways to be unfaithful). What if one finds religion suddenly? Or quits work and won't earn a living. How much time should each of you spend on kids' activities or house work etc?
A friend's sister just celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary. The family would have taken bets against that couple making it to that milestone! Even as recently as last year. Yet they keep plugging along. Sometimes each day is a milestone!
It seemed like mostly players from the '90s who showed up. Not sure how people were invited besides Facebook - that's how I found out. McKims were there and Eric and Ethan's folks. Plus all of Coach's assistant coaches. Lots of people to talk to!
Dick was coach for nearly 30 years and touched a lot of lives. Amy bonded with him more than Jud - as he oversaw the weight program in the summer. He appreciated her work ethic - he recently dropped off a chart from her frosh summer. She didn't miss a day of weights. She did her work/study in his classroom.
Jud wasn't as big a fan, as he played for him. He didn't really grow until his junior year and got no breaks in playing time until they discovered he was an awesome punter. Someday he'll realize he had a special coach but for now he's still too young to see it. Coach B touched a lot of lives and is a really good guy. I'm glad my kids know him.
But today, instead of that, I found myself thinking about a couple of divorces of those kids that I heard about last night. Jed Gammell and Sarah Coen were a couple high school sweethearts that seemed to be made for each other. They got married after college and had three sons. I was stunned and saddened to hear last night that they've just gone through a contentious divorce.
And one of the Owens boys, Eric married a local gal, Aimee Hilger only to divorce a couple years later. I heard about that last year. Again - I was shocked. It's been a few years since that happened and I'm glad for Eric that he's engaged to be married this fall. I noticed Eric's parents hugged some of his former in-laws at last night's event. It's nice that they're all still civil.
So during today's 5 mile walk, I lamented to myself about these young people. What happens? Why don't their marriages last? There are lots of ways for a marriage to fail - how can we count the ways? Impossible!
Some people just aren't meant to be together - it's evident from the start. But what about those couples that seem perfect for each other. And then they aren't? All through life we grow and change. When one partner changes in a way that isn't acceptable to the other, the marriage breaks down. Or unfaithfulness (and there are many ways to be unfaithful). What if one finds religion suddenly? Or quits work and won't earn a living. How much time should each of you spend on kids' activities or house work etc?
A friend's sister just celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary. The family would have taken bets against that couple making it to that milestone! Even as recently as last year. Yet they keep plugging along. Sometimes each day is a milestone!
1 comment:
Hi Leslie -
I wanted to drop a quick note to say hello, and also to kindly request that you remove my name from your blog post, "Marriage Thoughts" from 7/25/2010. Since your blog is visible to the public, search engines crawl your content and this blog post appears on the first page of organic search results when you Google my name. As someone who has worked long and hard to build my professional profile, it slays me that this post containing the musings of a curious observer regarding one of the most personal and painful chapters of my life is out there for anyone to see. Keep the blog post, but please remove my name from it. Thank you in advance.
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