Sunday, December 23, 2007

Homesick for South Dakota

Most of you know I'm a walker. Not just a casual walker. A walker that doesn't miss. I tell people I go 'every day'. And I try to. Well tonight after special meeting it was warm and snug inside. And outside it was bitter. The temperature said 14 degrees and the wind was blowing about 35-40 mph. But I felt like I should go. Lincoln was looking at me with a look in his eyes, 'well, what are you waiting for?'. So I bundled up and went out and I was transported back in time. Most my growing up years were in South Dakota. Think open prairie. Think wind and lots of it. We rarely had a snow that didn't come sideways. Snow always drifted. I would see calendar pictures of a lovely snow that landed on fenceposts and it was tall and beautiful. In South Dakota, it swoops down in the wind and is so hard you can walk on top of it. I told the kids a story recently how in one storm, the drift went all the way up to the roof of a neighbor's garage and we had an awesome sledding hill for a long time! I think my folks have pictures to prove it. Well anyway, what I'm getting at is that tonight I was 11 again. Coming home from school (1/2 mile!) walking in the bitter wind and snow (nothing ever got cancelled out there... you just kept doing what you usually did). And it was a wonderful memory. And now I have a bit of windburn on my cheeks and a refreshed memory of long ago.

All this follows a very awesome special meeting day today. We were so lucky to have two meetings this year. And the help was so needed.

More after Christmas! I'm sure I'll have a story after 33 (mostly Italian folks) spend the day here!

3 comments:

  1. Have a good Christmas. Sounds like it will be crazy busy but so fun. Family makes everything good, huh?

    Wish we lived closer... I'd go walking WITH you... EVERY DAY! :)

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  2. That was a cold night for a walk! How did your dinner go? I bet you're trying to recover! Nice to see you Sunday.

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  3. Your blog finally showed up on my computer screen now that there was a post about good old SD! I also have been "Homesick for SD" before. I did notice the wind around Watertown this fall as I hadn't really worked in that part before. We had some wind in RC, but maybe not quite as much.

    Good to read about your family doings on your blog. All is of interest. Sorry the link you have for my website hasn't been updated since last year. I do have regular blogs like yours, but I haven't kept them up very much either. I'll send you that address one of these days. I just haven't taken much time to post to them so figured they aren't that interesting. Take care.

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