For when the time comes to return home~

Morning everyone out there and greetings to you from me here in Hutchinson, Kansas.  Oh how strange it feels to sit here and type this blog post from a place so very far away from my new home in Montrose, Colorado.  Mike and I have been here since the very early morning hours on Thursday, having travelled the over 600 miles it takes to get here, all in one fell swoop.  We were tired and exhausted by the time we arrived but oh how glad I am that we made it and have had nearly 4 full days to be here.  There is never enough time to do all that we want or to see every person that we'd like to.  Thankfully we shall return again during the November-December holidays and knowing that makes it a little easier to go home today.

This morning I am filled with a myriad of feelings and that doesn't surprise me a bit.  When I woke up a while ago and told Mike that I was getting up to write in my blog, he understood completely.  I told him that I felt a little sad and when I feel a bit like this, sitting down at the keyboard of this computer and pounding away on all of the keys helps me to feel better.  One thing I have learned in this life of mine is you can't feel happy all of the time.  Life has its highs and lows; I have surely seen both.  

When Mike asked me a month or so ago what I wanted for my birthday this October 26th, the answer was simple~"I want to go home to Kansas and be at my class reunion in Haven.  That's all I want."  That wish has certainly been fulfilled.  As I sit at the dining room table in the really early morning hours and hear the lonesome sound of the AMTRAK's whistle, I realize there have been many more blessings that I have found along the way to home in Kansas.  I will remember all of them.

It's kind of a strange thing about my hometown of Haven, Kansas.  You know you never really leave it.  I graduated from there in 1973, now 40 years ago.  Although I have lived in Reno County for all of my life, I moved away from Haven in 1982.  I finally left Kansas and moved to Colorado in late May of this year and now I live so very far away across the Continental Divide.  Yet in my heart, that little Reno County town that I was raised up in is ALWAYS going to be like "home" to me.  How wonderful it was on Friday and Saturday to be able to spend some time in a place that has meant all the world to me, way back then and even now today.  This Kansas girl's heart is filled to overflowing with great memories now and maybe that's why it kind of feels like it breaks a bit when I leave it to go home.  

We have had a great time while we have been here.  I got to do most all that was on my list.  I went  through the Bogey's drive-thru three times and enjoyed every single drink of my diet vanilla Dr. Peppers with extra ice.  Shoot, before we go home today I'll probably go through one more time.  What the heck?  It's not illegal you know :)  I got to walk in my old neighbourhood and although I won't be able to see the leaves on the trees change into their beautiful autumn colours, at least I saw them once again.  We went to one my favourite places to shop, a thrift store called the ETC. Shop down on Main Street and I even bought a thing or two to tuck into the corners of the trunk of the car as we go back today.  Mike and I ate breakfast at the Firehouse Cafe with our children, Grahame and Ursela one morning and at long last, we even went into Fraese Drug Store on South Main Street to enjoy lunch Friday noon.  I've lived here forever and those are two places I always heard folks speak of but I never once went into them.  About dang time, I would say.  And right now?  Well right now I am enjoying the sound of train's whistle and that's something I have surely missed.  I hardly ever see a train in Montrose, let alone hear one's whistle.  I never realized how much I would miss that because I have done my share of "cussing and discussing" them while being held up by one, especially the one on the very south end of town.  But miss them I DO now.  Last but not least, my class reunion.

I want to commend the Haven High School Alumni Association for the banquet they put on for all of the alumni of Haven High School.  I'd always heard about this Friday night event that happens each year on the evening before the annual Fall Festival but never had the chance to attend.  Now that I have, I would love attend it again.  The commons area of the high school was filled to the brim with graduates of classes all the way from 1939 to some young kids from the class of 2003.  To listen to the sounds of their laughter and conversations, some from many decades ago, was so heart warming and uplifting to my spirit.  The table reserved for my class, the class of 1973, was filled with people who were kids who went to school together, many of us for the entire 12 years of our education.  The time went so quickly that evening, giving all kinds of credence to the adage "Time flies when you are having fun!"

Those that were able to attend Friday night posed for a group photo before we left the high school that evening.  We were really happy to be together again at long last.

Saturday was a great day as well and being able to spend it attending the parade and other Fall Festival activities in Haven helped to make a lot of memories to store up in our hearts.  These pictures will truly be worth "a thousand words" to me in the months ahead.  They can tell the story way better than I will ever be able to.

 We missed our old friends Toni and Joyce who normally would be standing here alongside of us...

 We slipped these two guys in the picture to help us fill the void :)

 I was taking Uncle Sam's photo when he decided to walk over and remind me of how very short I am!

 Mike's sister Nancy and his two nieces joined us to watch the parade along Kansas Avenue.

 I ran into a young man that I met long ago when he lived next door to us.  Greg and my son Ricky are friends from long ago.

 Standing right there along the street was my friend from long ago, Kenna Shaver Riley.  I cannot remember the last time I saw her but it was surely nice to see her once again.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, a young woman's voice called out my name...it was a former first-grade student of mine from the third year of my teaching career.  Little Sonya Savaiano has grown up now but she still remembers our time together.  What a blessing, a true blessing to be able to see her once again after all of these years that we have been apart.  She's a momma now with a little one of her own.  

Well the time has come to go and even though I might wish we could stay longer, at least we got to stay this long.  Both Mike and I must be at work on Tuesday morning and we have a long ways to go home.  We'll be checking the weather before we head out today and drive with caution.  When you live where we do, you are totally at the mercy of the mountains and the ever changing weather.  Old Monarch Pass was there on Wednesday night and it will be waiting for us later on today.  We hope to make it with no trouble at all.  

Kansas, it was good to see you again.  I miss you and your people very much.  I love you and I always will and there is nothing that will ever make me change my mind. Colorado, we are heading back home.  May the roads be kind to us and all the travellers out there today.  See you at Thanksgiving everyone :)  You guys are much loved by me!

                               We were classmates once~we are friends always.