Free Range Children

I didn't really read the story - but I got the gist. Somewhere out east, a dogwalker saw some "loose" children at play in a park. They were GASP not being supervised by an adult. Gulp. How dare they. The children were taken in by some type of protective services and the parents were arrested. Someone labeled them the "Free Range Kids" - like they were chickens.

Um, I'd like to put out a warrant for the parents in Atlantic, Iowa in the 1960's and 70's. You're busted! I know it's a different era now - but arrest. Really? Kids can't even go to the park?

Mom's fortress - as painted by Marilyn VanAntwerp

Last summer a little girl was taken in here in Des Moines because she was left at a park all day. I can't remember if her Mom was working? Looking for work? In a bar? That made headlines too. The little girl was around eight years old, and didn't have any way to have lunch - so that's understandable that people were upset that she was left alone. So what is acceptable?

I saw a funny blog last week "What Would Mom Do?" Sneak preview - Lock us outside and drink a Tab.

That was pretty much our childhood - but Mom didn't lock the door - she just shooed us out. We ragamuffins did show up for meals though. Peanut butter sandwiches with a lettuce leaf in it. Iceberg!

Cindo and me today

When I got to hang out with my big sis Cindo on vaca in sunny Florida (Yeah, I'm rubbing it in), we talked about our idyllic childhood. The neighborhood was our kingdom! We'd trot through storm sewers, climb barbed wire fences up above Bredensteiner's house to get to the pond (Thar be frogs here!), and make anyone's yard our own. Any open space was open season for a pickup game of anything - football, freeze tag, hide and seek, and kick the can. My mother didn't lay eyes on us for hours at a time. Free range!

As a young adult I was a life guard at Sunnyside Pool. There I saw many Free Range children - on their own for the day....or under the life guard's supervision only. That meant they'd come and go to the park, eat junk if they had any money. Freeze if they only had a towel and it got cold. There was nobody at home if their parent(s) worked. Many rode their bikes to the pool (no helmet), or were dropped off with a wave. They survived.

I'm not advocating that everyone today should send their children off by themselves. Paul and I sure didn't allow our kids to explore on their own any too soon. I remember the first time I left Amy in the yard of our first home in Creston all by herself. There were large picture windows so I could keep an eye on here - but it was on a somewhat busy corner...and the street...it was so close! I watched like a hawk.

The first time we left the kids at home without a sitter, the Kristina and Kim McFee were with them at our house. Amy must have been about 12 and we adults were just downtown. Let's just say it didn't go the best - something about our dog Moki barking and the big girls thought someone was there and they all went outside...We received a phone call and had to go home.

Everyone needs to know their own child's limits and slowly let the string out as they begin to function on their own. I saw a great quote yesterday - it's very appropriate here. It's by William G.T. Shedd. “A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.” You can't keep your kid in the harbor forever!

I feel fortunate that I grew up in the golden Free Range age. I hope today's children are allowed to range some too!

Reconnecting with Bobbie and Jeff

My grandfather was a gentleman farmer. Wallace Bullock used some of the proceeds of his job selling children's clothing across Iowa to purchase several small farms around Atlantic. I remember riding with him in his Volkswagon bug (a real farmer's vehicle...) to visit his tenant farmers. We'd smell the hogs (before confinements) and scrunch up our noses. Bubba (our name for our granddad) would say, "That's the smell of money"!

That is not the way our friend Jeff McFee, a cattle farmer work it. He's a real farmer, often working 7 days a week, rain or shine, hot or cold. This year Bobbie and Jeff had a vacation in September and when they got back it was harvest time. He's been running ever since. I'm glad he took some time off to hang out with us.

Paul and I started out yesterday fairly early at our fave breakfast place, the Waveland for sustenance for the day. We had lot of errands to run. We arrived home to watch the Cyclones get their injury-ridden tails whipped. Prior to the game, Paul dug out Christmas lights for the front and back of our town home.

Clark Griswold, Jr.

During the game, to distract myself, I heaped ornaments on the dainty Christmas Tree in our living room. Bobbie and Jeff arrived later in the afternoon after a bit of shopping. It had been many weeks since we'd seen the two of them so we had a lot of catching up to do.

I'd made reservations at Ohana Steakhouse. It is a Teppanyaki cooking house - where they cook on a big hot griddle in front of you. It's fun to watch and we had a good chef - he was quite intelligent and witty. And a good cook! My scallops with lemon sauce were delish.

Bobbie and Jeff check out the veggies

  It was a fun night with our longtime pals. We retired back to our place...and all had a hard time keeping our eyes open while the evening football game played out.

On Sunday we attended the ISU Women's game against Stony Brook University, thanks to free tickets from McFee's daughter Kristina. We met their other daughter Kim for lunch at the new Wallaby's. There I ran into my high school classmate Jeff Becker and wife Sharon with their son. Small world department. We made fun of Roger Underwood. haha

The Cyclones made the game closer than it should have been - but pulled it out in the end. Phew! One place we couldn't go this weekend was the best dive around - the Locust Tap. It's out of commission, shut down by the health department. I have high hopes that all problems will be remedied by the slumlord soon!

Health update: the shoulder continues to improve, I continue to take Methimazole to block the thyroid - I will have another blood test soon to see how the hormones are doing. I feel much better than I did prior to being diagnosed. Graves Disease is a journey and I'm now a warrior on that path.

Class reunions - a dying event?

Amy headed home on Amtrak - arriving Friday a.m. in Crestonia (late as usual - good job Amtrak) for her 10th high school class reunion. Hungry, she walked to S&K Café for a bit 'o breakfast. She recognized a few familiar faces and one smiling one especially. When she tried to pay Chuck, the proprietor, someone had already taken care of it...anonymously. That warms my heart. Good 'ol Creston.

Was it Darwin West auctioneer, bus driver, prom announcer and all around good guy? Amy will never know but is forever grateful. The Denver kid still loves her home town because of things like that!

Amy planned the Creston High School's Class of 2004 reunion from afar. She wasn't the Class president or anything, but hey...nobody else was doing it - and it seemed important to her. Maybe her business mentor, my classmate Roger Underwood (Atlantic High School Class of 1976) is rubbing off on her. He's been great at planning our Atlantic class reunions (except for the last one when I accepted the challenge). I'm glad it's important to Amy as well.

I totally understand it when some people choose to just walk away from high school and wash their hands of the whole thing. They had a bad experience, have become a new person and don't feel like revisiting that time in their lives. Or some people just don't have that much vacation time - and peeling off time for a reunion isn't in the cards. Others just might not want to see a certain someone in the class, or to talk about where they are in their lives at that point. But in my opinion they're missing out.

I'm intrigued by watching people grow up. I must admit, I didn't pay attention to some of my classmates as we moved through those high school years. I had my group of friends and the others were bit players in my eyes. After graduation - when classmates had matured a bit...and maybe I had too - it was fun to talk to them. I hope they didn't think I was a total idiot.

Maybe Amy will never come back to another reunion. Or maybe, like her momma, she'll go to many. She enjoyed this one. She wished more classmates could have attended, but what can you do? There's never a perfect weekend - you just have to pick.

Paul and I chose to chaperone part of the evening at The Lobby along with some of our homies. First we ate at A&G where the Class of 1994 reunion was happening. I wish I would have known that Missy Frank, daughter of our daycare providers Carol and Mark, was there in the party room. We did run into these honeys.

Hudek girls - Megan, Syd and Erin

 We also saw many other familiar faces including Stew Stewart and family and Troy Jay's parents. Katzers came in for a bite with Ron and Dottie Dunphy. It's nice to go where everybody knows your name.

Amy and Kristina McFee Carroll

The crowd at The Lobby was much younger. Tim, the Lobby Owner, had hired a DJ with karaoke capabilities - one of the guy singers was pretty darn good. The girls gathered in the corner so we could keep an eye on the people - a mix since the bar wasn't closed to just the Class of 2004. Just down the street the Class of 1984 had hired a band and they were celebrating in the alley. Wow - 3 decades of former students in town.

unofficial chaperones/stalkers

It was fun to chat with some of the kids from the class who chose to take time to speak with us parents. Soon however the fellas (Jeff, Paul and Donnie) felt the need to keep moving. They walked to the Elms Club to catch up with some of the folks from that class. 1984 was a couple years before we moved to town. Thane Glynn told a couple of hilarious stories and then they were off across the tracks.

When we first moved to Creston, Sidetracked was a dive bar right next to First National Bank where I worked. Then it got "selected" to move when the city decided the area was needed for urban development - Fareway went in there. Sidetracked (named due to proximity to Burlington Northern tracks, or because certain husbands get off course when they go there) moved to the south side of the tracks and has been there ever since. The establishment is run by a CHS classmate of Jeff's (Class of 1976) Randy Hagel. He's a big boy.



we were the only customers by this point...

When I got a text saying the boys were at Sidetracked we decided to join them. I didn't think we really needed to stay for the Class of 2004's whole reunion. Deb decided to head home - her husband Larry and sons (Brett is Amy's classmate) are in Cooperstown, NY at the Baseball Hall of Fame ceremony - trip of a lifetime! So Deb was flying solo.

On our way out of the door I stopped to say goodbye to Amy and chatted with Stormy Weis Wilson - longtime bff of Amy. What a sweetheart! Amy stayed at Stormy and Kyle's this weekend and I'm so glad they had a chance to catch up.



Don describes to Diana how to get him to listen to her...

Bobbie, Diana and I walked across the tracks to see what the fellers were up to. Of course when we got to Sidetracked...it was evident - the guys were up to no good! Soon Cheetos were had. Randy shot water at Diana from behind the bar when she tried to order just a water...so she had to settle on a vodka tonic. No limes at that joint...or diet tonic!

We shut Randy down and ended up back at the Elm's Club for just 1 more. Not for me though - I was driving. By the time we got back to B&J's Kristina was there and Odie was able to enjoy some Cheerios with Jeff and her. Bedtime 1:30 a.m. - late for this kiddo!

Bobbie served a lovely egg casserole this a.m. and we picked Amy up in time to do a rundown of the evening - who was there and who was a no-show who had said they were coming. It was a pretty good turnout for a Facebook Invite event with no real "buy in" required by anyone. Everyone there said they'd like to do it again in 5 years. Amy better get some tips from Roger...

Some say class reunions are dying out because people keep track of each other on Facebook. I say bah humbug.

West End Blarney

Homegirl Bobbie Mac texted Friday night that she was heading to the big city from Crestonia on Saturday. Yay! It had been quite a while since I'd seen that girl. She arrived promptly at 10 a.m., just before her sis-in-law, my former roomie Joanie Mac B. Paul enjoyed chatting and catching up with the two. But then it was time to head downtown to check out West End Salvage - of HGTV fame.

The show premiered about a month ago on Thursday night. I actually visited the store 10 years ago - when it was a small corner store. Today it's 4 floors of junk, um stuff plus a coffee shop. And T-shirts (I liked the "cute shoes discount shirt). One could spend hours there. The place was packed on a cold rainy Saturday. Don and Hal - the shows "stars" were in the house.

Bobbie and Hal's back...

Don is on the phone

Joan secretly wants that rocking chair...no not really - she already has one!

Hal and Elk friend. I didn't get a price...I wonder if they'd like a couple deer heads?

 

Bobbie's daughter, Kimmy joined us after she got off her shift at Mercy Medical Center. Then we headed to Noodle Zoo for lunch as Zombie Burger looked too crowded. Love those noodles! A quick stop at Sticks to see all the art/furniture I can't afford.

Then we decided to head across the river to my fave bar The Standard to await Bobbie's daughter Kristina and her husband Caleb. They were doing a pub crawl/run benefiting the Amanda the Panda grief support center. The race had a St. Patrick's theme.

As we stepped in the door at the bar, the guy looked at us funny like we were out of place. Well...we WERE the only ones not in green running clothes/costumes. I tried to huff and puff to pretend I'd been running, but didn't pull it off. We rounded up the last table for 4 and ordered up beautiful dessert martinis (except Joan, our Designated Driver). Not being in costume, and the fact that 3/4 of us were 50+ made us approachable for some reason. Lots of people stopped to talk to us. They liked our martinis - conversation starters.

I had a blast! And probably 1 too many martinis, especially considering it was like 3 in the afternoon. Runners, mostly 20 somethings, were dressed in various costumes. But there were people our age-ish. I think I'd like to do this race next year. I hope the weather is better. The cause is something dear to my heart - as someone who has experienced loss of a loved one. And dealing with children who have lost a sibling. Plus it looked like lots of fun. Check it out.

How would you like to run in that hat?

Talked this poor chap into a photo, and then got photo bombed by the guy behind us, who we'd been talking to earlier

There was a girl in a slinky nightie (with running gear under it) that told me it came from the Ottumwa Wal-Mart. Another fella who talked to us had on Michelangelo's David boxers over his running tights. And they were complete with anatomically correct drawings. Very funny! I need to start looking now for next year's costume!

Needless to say I was quite worthless the rest of the evening, after Joan dropped me off. It was worth it!