Forty Years!

Our 40th anniversary is coming up quickly. I mean quicker than 40 freaking years should take! 

Paul and I met for the first time at Aunt Maude's in 1978, while attending Iowa State University. It wasn't until that next spring that he knocked on our apartment door at 230 Campus - the building where all the cool kids lived. He and his roomies lived in the 200s door, while I lived 2 sections down in the 400s. He must have noticed that Sally, Jane, and I looked like awesome athletes - he asked us to join the co-ed softball team he was putting together. 

The rest is history - our somewhat regular girl meets boy at college. Friendship blooms and later love. 

Paul and I were married on 8/28/82 in my hometown - in front of friends and family. My favorite parts of the day were walking down the aisle after the ceremony with my new husband and the post-reception reception, held at my parent's house. Prime rib sandwiches - served by my parent's friends out of our garage. It was casual - with a keg and friends and family in our yard and driveway. 

We waited about a week to go on our honeymoon to the Northwest. I was working as an office manager at a grocery wholesaler in Omaha then and I had to be around to complete "Month End" - making sure all the bananas were accounted for! 

So it's a happy coincidence that 40 years later we're traveling to our niece Sarah Kohan's wedding just outside of Seattle. Sarah is sister Betsy (and husband Wayne's) only daughter (4 boys). She's marrying Kyle who grew up west of Seattle - across the water (I think it's a Sound). 

Seattle 1982

We found my headpiece last winter when we sorted the utility room

In 1982, when we got married, Paul was still recovering from knee surgery. So we weren't overly mobile. That's why we lined up a Grayline bus tour of the Northwest that was probably set up for older people. You know, the age we are now. 😏 The tour was perfect - transportation to all the places we needed to go. 

We stayed in Seattle, downtown for a couple of days - took a romantic dinner cruise in Seattle and a bus tour to Mt. Ranier. Then we took a ferry to Victoria, Canada (beautiful city with fab gardens) and went on to Vancouver (a modern city, mountains and waterfalls). It was a lovely, very memorable trip. 

We can't wait to go back! We'll celebrate the wedding, Betsy's birthday, and our anniversary with many of the people we love. Jud, Kara, and Nell won't make it - long flight for a toddler. 

Summer!

Sadly, I don't have a pic of Mom in swimsuit, holding a clipboard teaching kids to swim

After a very loooong cold spring, summer heat is finally upon us. I have so many fond memories of this time of year. As a child growing up in a small SW Iowa town, I feel so lucky. I grew up in the 1960s when families were big, and parents didn't pay super close attention to what we were up to - as long as we made it home for meals and bedtime. 

My hometown, Atlantic (population just under 7,000 in 1960 - to a peak of 7,700 in 1980) had everything a kid could want for childhood adventures. My family lived in a house at the top of a hill (I've heard people call it Bullock's Hill) that overlooked a neighborhood called Fairlawns. That area was full of many post-WWII ranch homes, and giant families - ready-made kids to hang out with. 

Next door a big family, the Reinertsons, moved in. We played with the Reinterson girls a lot - especially Katherine (a year younger than Cindy), Laurie (a year older than me), and Annie (a year younger than Betsy). Susi is the oldest in our family - sandwiched in between Reinertson's eldest, Bonnie, and the only boy, Donnie, a year or two younger. 

Backyard fun

I remember treating their backyard (in fact everyone's in the neighborhood) like it was an extension of ours. Reinertsons had a basketball hoop on a pole by the patio in the backyard. And a cool jungle gym-style swingset - monkey bars! Our yard featured a basic triangle-type swingset, and a fabulous playhouse built by my Grandfather Pop's contracting business. We also had a hill leading up to our back porch - fun for sledding and sliding down on giant cardboard pieces. 

There was a narrow forested property to the east of our house that was never developed while we lived there. Of course, we made that our own too - climbing the trees, making forts, and carving out a path to the north side of the block. The woods seemed so large like many things remembered, but adult Leslie saw how narrow it really was. 

Juddy dog with Mom and me

Our doggo, Jud, a full-sized dachshund who we got when I was 1 year old, was part of our posse - he followed us wherever we went. Sadly, he was hit by a car and broke his hip. Mom took him to a vet clinic in Red Oak to have a pin put in the break. He had a big cast on his rear end and we had to carry him outside to go potty. The pin stuck through the skin - a stainless steel rod. Later, he always had that scar, and his legs kicked off to the side when he ran. Jud lived to be 15 years old - I was a freshman in high school. I credit Jud - who slept with me each night - for my love of animals. We called him our brother and he was named after our dad David Judson. Our son Judson is named after Dad and our dog. 😀 

I got a new Western Flyer "spider" bike with a banana seat one year. It was aqua in step-through girl style and had a big white basket on the front. As a not so girlie-girl, I took the plastic flowers off of the basket right away! I did need the basket for my piano lessons at Mrs. Sandhorst's house a few blocks southwest of our place. Everyone had bikes (no helmets) and it wasn't uncommon to see a big mess of bikes parked at any house or play area on summer days. I rode it to school sometimes too. I got in trouble once because I turned into our driveway in front of Sheila Savory in her Karmann Ghia. She called Mom, who read me the riot act on bike safety. 

The best thing was when the "big kids" would include us in their outdoor activities - like Ghost Tag, Kick the Can, and Sardines. Look those games up - basically the are tag and hide n seek. Donnie Reinertson hid in the attic above his family's garage. That place was set up like a fort, but it sure was hot up there. Lucky, we had an app for that. Not really - just one of those twirling sprinklers we'd run through. 

Speaking of water, swimming is part of my family identity. Mom was a Red Cross water safety instructor those summers - along with her friend Betty Lou Pellett. Mom dragged us along for lessons held at the former Boy Scout camp near Griswold. Of course, we took all of the lessons - from beginner to Water Safety Instructor. Good memories of listening to "I'm Henry the 8th" in the car, and going to a root beer place after a whole morning of swimming and running around a park near a cave Jesse James hid in. 

As if we didn't get enough swimming those mornings, we'd go to the pool at the Golf and Country Club in the afternoons. There I'd play with friends I still hold dear. In between dips in the baby and big pool, we'd make forts by putting out towels over a tipped pool chair. Swimming games included swim tag, Nibbles (hiding a twig in the pool for others to find), Jump or Dive off of the diving board, handstands, reading each other's lips underwater, Cannonballs, and more. And that snack room was awesome - with frozen treats like Cap'n Crunch Bars and Drumstix. Plus the regular fare - candy bars, soda, and chips. There was a big table, perfect for card games like Spoons and War. 

Celebrating swim team

Atlantic had a great summer Swim Team, managed by who else - the Pellett family. Practice was at Sunnyside - the full-sized public pool with 3 different diving boards - low, medium, and the scary high board. We'd swim laps under the diving boards - 20 yards across. Parents drove us to SWISA (Southwest Iowa Swim Association) Swim Meets across SW Iowa - places like Council Bluffs (Town and Country Pool), Shenendoah, Clarinda, Creston, Missouri Valley, Manning, Villisca. A couple of times we even went to AAU meets - big time! We went to Fremont, NE, Omaha, and Jefferson, Iowa. I was a good breast stroke specialist and had great support in relays with my pals Sally, Robyn, Merricks and Hutchinsons, Sue, Jennifer, and more. 

I got to know people like the Allens - Mike, Pat, Sherri. Bill Thede was fun to hang with. So many more I can't think of. Swim Team members spent a lot of time together - riding to meets, reading Mad Magazine, and playing cards under the tent in between races. Sue Tyler always brought boxes of Jello - basically flavored sugar for energy. Today I think they use products made for that purpose - we were just ahead of the game! Sally and I spent many hours in her family pool practicing flip turns. 

When I was older, no longer participating on Swim Team, I became a Water Safety Instructor, and Life Guard at both Sunnyside and the Country Club. I even helped with swim meets by being a timer. It's no wonder my skin suffered lots of damage - before the age of sunscreen. We did have Zinc Oxide for burned noses and cheeks. And Baby Oil with iodine - huh? 

The outdoor pool at my gym just opened, so it's time for me to get back in the water. The sounds of kids swimming and playing and the smell of chlorine bring on nostalgia. Another reminder can be hearing songs played over and over on the only station we could get at the pool - was it WOW AM? 

Summer is my favorite season. I tried to believe it was Autumn like it is for many. But it isn't. Bring on the sun (with 50 sunscreen). 

I hope you have a good summer filled with past memories and future ones.