The day will come when I will die. So the only matter of consequence before me is what I will do with my allotted time. I can remain on shore, paralyzed with fear, or I can raise my sails and dip and soar in the breeze.--Richard Bode



Sunday, June 10, 2012

My Granddaughter's Wedding

It took me two days of hard driving to get to Denver. As I suspected, the traffic was bumper to bumper at break-neck speeds. But as I knew it would, the traffic eased off once I got to Kansas. Along with the traffic, the towns disappeared and the true prairie began, treeless and rolling. I was happy that I had my books on tape to listen to.


My wife, Patrice, arrived at the Denver airport right on time, and we drove the six hour trip up to Gillette, Wyoming. This is High Plains country, a mile higher in elevation than back home in Illinois. The wind blows endlessly here, and it pushes the clouds around the clear, open skies. I love watching the storms as they pass by miles away. It is something I can't do at my home in the Illinois woods.

The air is thin and dry here, and the grass grows short and parched. There are no mosquitoes and blessed little humidity. My Wyoming relatives and in-laws talk about feeling claustrophobic when they come visiting me in Illinois, and they are amazed that they can be drenched in sweat in the evening, just sitting and slapping mosquitoes and sweating in the Illinois humidity.


Once we got to my son, Erin's, house, one of the first items on the agenda was to get my motorcycle off the trailer, and the trailer off the car. Patrice and I were going to need that car to drive around in. This is Odysseus, Erin, Patrice, and two of my grand-kids, Angela and Austin. Cute, aren't they? We are in front of my son's house in Gillette.


My sister, Dena, and brother-in-law Larry, arrived from Indiana. They are planning a big fishing trip in Canada when the wedding is over, but they are having some mechanical problems with their truck so they are thinking about just heading back home. Retired and fancy free, they can do this Canadian trip in the Fall if they need to. Good luck either way to them.

I was so caught up in all the wedding activities that I didn't take any pictures. Sorry. It was a fun wedding though. My son, who is a minister, performed the ceremony to marry Chase and Alyssa. It was moving and tear-filled and funny all at the same time.

After the wedding, I drove Patrice back to Denver to catch her flight home, and Igot back to Gillette in time for a massive party at my daughter-in-law's parents home. Her uncles were there, and they had all been fishing, coming back with a bunch of wall-eye fish.

Today is Sunday, my departure day. Odysseus is packed and ready to go. We will be heading for the Big Horn Mountains soon. I can see their snow-capped peaks from my sun's house. They are calling to beckoning to Odysseus and me. But first, my grandson, is playing in a baseball game and I want to see it. He is a Junior in high school and quite the athlete. I haven't seen him since we were skiing in Colorado several months ago, and I don't want to waste this opportunity to watch him play.

I hear a lot of movement upstairs, and two of my youngest grandchildren just came down here where I am typing this blog. They wantto know what I am doing. Time to get started on the day.

Talk with you later.

Ron