Part 9 was published December 17, 2023, and can be found here.

Some activities in the last sixty years:

MARRIAGE

If you make a promise, you keep it.

SHERELL

My so-called bucket list when I was young had a lot of wishes and dreams like most young people have. I have been most fortunate and blessed to have gotten to do quite a few of my dreams. The first big event in my life, obviously, and I do mean quite obviously, was conning a Sherell Kay Mauth to marry me, and of course, there is a story.

I would have been a junior in high school and belonged to the local church youth group, MYF. We were having a joint meet-and-greet with the MYF group at Bazine, Kansas, for a dinner in the basement of their church in Bazine. Me being a chocoholic, I noted that one of the tables had a bowl of brownies in the middle, whereas the other tables had various cookies. So, before many of the kids had sat down at a table, I planted myself in front of that bowl of brownies. Later, Sherell and her friends sat down on the other side. And, yes, that's where the biggest deal in my life began. Sixty-five years later, it’s been awesome.

Some of the lesson here is that I told my boys, "When you are chasing girls, you're not going to find a trout in the shark pond. So be a little cautious of where you look. You won't find the good ones in a bar." Because of Sherell, I had the encouragement and a partner at my side to build and do nearly everything that I have been blessed to get to do. She helped build the shop, and could bend nails building the house as well as I.  I was attracted to Sherell very early on when I learned her dad was a builder - using wood and stone. He built the bank building in Bazine out of natural stone. Another thing that attracted me to her was the fact that she could play the piano. My mom desperately wanted someone in the family.who could play the piano. She made my sister, Jenean, and I take lessons, but that didn't go so well.

LEARNING TO FLY

About the next big thing, was learning to fly like a bird. During college, and in many college towns, there are more students looking for jobs than are available. In the 1950s, nothing resembled minimum wage. Sherell had a job working at the drug store for $1 per hour. That paid for our rent and groceries. I worked at a truck stop pumping gas and diesel and fixing truck tires for $0.83 an hour. After four days of four- to five-hour shifts, I had enough money to go to the airport on Saturday and take a flying lesson because - somehow, someway - I really wanted to learn to fly. By the time I was in my senior year, I had my license to fly. And it is the one thing today that I truly do miss. But we sold the plane after 25 years, and Sherell tells me that 25 years probably was enough. But I do miss it.

An interesting side point here is that my parents were not too thrilled about me flying because a good friend of theirs was killed in a plane crash while chasing a coyote. His son, who was a high school mate of mine, was injured in that accident.

It was in November or December during my senior year, and we had gotten about six inches of snow. It was all pretty much on the level - white everywhere. Mom and dad were at Hays visiting us and I said, "How would you like to go for a night flight and see the beautiful white and stars from the air?" We did so. It was a night of no wind. The air was smooth as silk, and was unbelievably beautiful from up in the air. Mom and dad would pick out the lights of some town 40-50 miles away and comment on how they were like diamonds shining in the white snow. After that, they no longer had any problem with me flying.

Next: COLORADO