When I decided to head home for my 50th High School Reunion I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as it turned out. It was amazing.
Our flight on Thursday was in the afternoon, so we spent the day with Kira. We met Ben for lunch at Little Miss BBQ.
That place is amazing.
We boarded our flight pretty much on time but then we sat on the plane at the gate for an hour. They then unloaded us and let us sit in the terminal for another hour and then reboarded us where we sat for most of a third hour. Thank goodness for the one-hour reprieve, sitting on a plane that isn’t going anywhere is miserable. To make matters worse, it is a budget airline with cheap seats that have no cushions and don’t recline. By the time we got to Great Falls my back was killing me.
We were expecting to be at Kari and Barret’s before midnight, but it was after midnight when we finally got in our rental car. Just to make things worse, we waited in a line at the border crossing for nearly an hour. It was well after 3:00 AM before we finally crawled into our beds.
Friday morning, we went to a temple session. It was wonderful to visit the temple we both grew up with and where we got married.
After the session we checked out the grounds for a bit and then I noticed what looked like a big bug cruising across the lawn. Suddenly it turned and headed straight towards us. It was a little freaky but very cool. It was also dead silent so it must have had a scroll type of blade.
Apparently when they first got them (there are three of them) it took a while for the robots to figure out where all the trees are. There is a Facebook page for the temple, and it was common to see a post saying, “a robot is stuck in a tree”.
We then cruised around town a bit and saw the house I grew up in. It doesn’t look anything like it did when I saw it last.
This is the church across the street from the temple. This is where I went to church until I left for college. I have been inside that steeple.
After the temple, we went and visited Mom and Dad’s plots in the cemetery. Lisa put these little QR codes on their graves. If you scan the code it takes you to their Family Search profile where you can see their family tree and read all about their lives. Here are their QR codes. Maybe you can scan them and check them out.We had planned to go to Waterton on Friday morning, but we decided to check out the Remington museum instead. Dad did a lot of the finished carpentry in the museum so on top of a visit to an amazing museum, I got to see some of Dad’s handiwork.
The museum had hundreds of carriages, and they were all displayed and described in a way that made sense. I loved it. They even had a good description of the transition from carriages to automobiles and how some of the big guys in the carriage business refused to see what was coming. They figured it was a fad.
This phone is very similar to the one we had on our farm. They have a little crank on the right side, and you could use that to call other people on the same line or just a long crank to call the operator who would connect you to people on different lines. I really wish I could remember what our call sign was. I need to ask Dixie, I’m sure she remembers. The signs were kind of like Morse code. I remember mom and dad used to honk the horn to make the code as a sign that we needed to come home. Something like a long, short, long, long similar to morse code, - • - -
Kari then took us to this amazing place called the “Pop Shop”. They make these very delicious slushies.
Friday night was the big dinner. It was held at the High School Cafeteria. There was no cafeteria when I was in High School. While the outside of the school isn’t too different from how I remember it, the inside is completely different. I did a little exploring, but I didn’t get a chance to do much. The Physics and Chemistry rooms are in pretty much the same area but the buildings where I went to, band, auto shop, wood shop, drafting and photography are all gone.
From 6:00 to 6:30 was a “meet and greet” and then we sat down to an amazing prime rib dinner. We visited with the guys at our table and then they had a program.
I saw Royce Leavitt and we visited for a while; Royce is married to Marina Russel. We had a good visit about him babysitting me. Royce’s dad and my grandpa were brothers. Uncle Devere and Aunt Margrete.
The cafeteria was done very well. They had paintings on the walls of each of the small communities that feed into Cardston. They even had the town of Leavitt.
The theme song we used for our graduation was “Do You Know Where You’re Going To”. The reunion committee wrote new words for the song and sang it for us. One of the girls was on a flute and played very well. The entire song was well done.
The words went like this:
We boarded our flight pretty much on time but then we sat on the plane at the gate for an hour. They then unloaded us and let us sit in the terminal for another hour and then reboarded us where we sat for most of a third hour. Thank goodness for the one-hour reprieve, sitting on a plane that isn’t going anywhere is miserable. To make matters worse, it is a budget airline with cheap seats that have no cushions and don’t recline. By the time we got to Great Falls my back was killing me.
We were expecting to be at Kari and Barret’s before midnight, but it was after midnight when we finally got in our rental car. Just to make things worse, we waited in a line at the border crossing for nearly an hour. It was well after 3:00 AM before we finally crawled into our beds.
After the session we checked out the grounds for a bit and then I noticed what looked like a big bug cruising across the lawn. Suddenly it turned and headed straight towards us. It was a little freaky but very cool. It was also dead silent so it must have had a scroll type of blade.
I saw Royce Leavitt and we visited for a while; Royce is married to Marina Russel. We had a good visit about him babysitting me. Royce’s dad and my grandpa were brothers. Uncle Devere and Aunt Margrete.
The words went like this:
Do you know where you're going too
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?
Do you know where you parked your car
Do you even know exactly where you are
Where is that doggone car
Do you know?
And the only silver that does shine
Is in our thinning and receding hairlines
Yes, we all loved it but it wasn't meant to be
That Farrah Fawcett look for you and for me
Have your kids moved back home with you
To your downsized home that's only built for two
What are you going to do
Do you know?
Instrumental
In the end they'll put you in a home
So they can spend your money and freely roam
And this is morbid but we know our own demise
The kids will pull the plug to charge their device
Kens, Dineaway, and the Grove are gone
And the radio plays such a different song
Those good old days are gone
Where'd they go?
We have lived in the best of times
When the music and all the lyrics rhyme
Oh! What a groovy time
YES we know.
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Today, more pictures are taken every two minutes than were taken throughout the 1800s. It is estimated that ten percent of all photos ever taken were taken in the last twelve months.
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