My mom and I went on a little road trip this week to Eagan, MN.  My main responsibility has been to stay with our daughter, Melissa’s, children while she and her husband, Ryan, had some time away.  It is a good opportunity to get to know the kids better when you get the chance to enter the world they live in day to day.  I’ve enjoyed Taylor’s basketball games and the fact that he could drive for me when we were touring here and there. Watching movies and playing games with both Abbi and Lexi, along with taking walks, gave us time to chat and catch up with each other.  We’ve laughed together too!  When I gave Lexi permission to have a friend over, she asked me if it would be a sleep-over or a hang-over!  Huh??  When I asked what she meant, she wanted to know whether her friend could stay over night…or were they just going to “hang out” for awhile.  O.K.  Got it.  Sometimes you just need a little more information!

One afternoon we enjoyed going to the Minnesota Science Museum in St. Paul to see “National Parks” on the big screen in the cinema theater.  It is the hundredth anniversary of our National Park system that our former president, Theodore Roosevelt, began.  The pictures and scenery were beautiful, and we all enjoyed the many  views of nature and animals up close.  We did not realize there were so many beautiful park areas set aside in our country.  How wonderful that these lands are kept free and set aside for all of us to enjoy.

As I think about our freedoms and our celebration of July 4th this week, it reminds me once again of the veterans and those who have given so much so that we can live in a free country.  My mom and I had a unique opportunity one evening to visit an older gentleman that was in the same 86th Blackhawk Army division as my father in World War II.  He lives in Eagan also, just a few miles from our daughter.  What a delight that was!  George lives in his own home at age 90, along with one of his daughters who helps him with some daily needs.  He is alert, funny, insightful, and welcomed us with such great hospitality.

Each weekday he goes to an adult day care at Fort Snelling while his daughter works.  He rides a bus which picks him up at his door, and the cost for the transportation is four dollars daily.   The actual daycare and meals are free because of his veteran status.  What a blessing that is for him and his family, and what a great pay back for his time of sacrifice and duty.  He was telling us about going fishing, enjoying picnics, pontoon riding and even going dancing with others in the daycare.  He is a former architect having lived and worked both in Minneapolis and Anchorage, Alaska.  He tells the story of his life with big smiles and eyes of enthusiasm.  He does not seem 90!

In 2000 George and his daughter went to Europe and traced the places that he had served during his war time duty, along with several other veterans of his era.  My mom and dad enjoyed a similar trip, but theirs was planned by my brother and he accompanied them as my dad revisited the sites.  As I have listened to both men talk about those trips, it had to be a real joy to go back and see it in a peaceful setting rather than in war.

I’ve enjoyed reconnecting with an old grade school friend from Apple Valley this week too.  Barb and I had some good laughs about growing up in Bigelow, our families, getting older, and just life in general.  Mom joined us in our lunch out to Panera, and coming back to enjoy the deck and the warm sunshine one afternoon.  On our way north from home we stopped for a couple hours in Mankato to have an early supper with my cousin, Carla.  It’s funny they didn’t evict us for laughing and causing a “scene”, as my grandmother would have called it.

        At the end of our week we let “Dotty”, our GPS voice guide, direct us to Stillwater for a few hours of fun by the river and to visit with my niece, Shannon, and her family.  They will soon depart for a new job and life in Alaska, so we wanted to spend some time with them since they weren’t all that far away.  It was good for my mom to accompany me this past week.  She misses all of the traveling that she and my dad did for so many years.  Now that I think of it, traveling…friends…family…and the freedom we have to experience all of that in whatever way makes us happy, is just another blessing of living in this land of the free and the home of the brave.  Do enjoy your celebration of the Fourth of July however it works out for you.  But don’t forget to take a moment to thank the Good Lord for all of the blessings that come with that remembrance and celebration!

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