Things have changed

Its been said in both bible and song for millions of times. “Turn Turn Turn, For everything there is a season”. My life was directly impacted by that on October 30, 2021 when Husband Larry passed away. It was a beauty Saturday morning but I don’t recall much of the day. I do remember the phone call from the hospital but not much else. This is where my family and dear friends stepped in to take care of. Not sure if I will ever recall all the details but they were all there to get me through those first days and beyond.

This is the hardest writing I have every had to do. What do I say or not say? I have to keep in mind that most of you loyal readers may not have met Larry in person. I know it takes time from your daily life to read these articles and hopefully life is just a touch brighter after reading them. It has brought me great joy to write for almost 12 years and have you as a part of my life.

How can one put over 51 years together in just a few short sentences? It may be the same story as yours; some ups and some downs, some great joy, some sad times as friends and family leave us. We started our married life off on August 25, 1970 which if you check the calender is a Tuesday. What the heck was that all about? In my hometown area of Harding, MN, a large number of Vietnam veterans were returning and getting married so if we wanted to have the usual wedding on a Saturday we would have to wait about 2 years to get a place to have the event. We broke all the rules by getting married on a Tuesday, got married at noon (usual time 10 AM with “dinner” afterwards), and had a reception with snacks at the Pierz Ballroom in the afternoon. At one end of the ballroom was the punch bowl, mints, and crackers for those from Larry’s side that did not do the liquor thing and at the other side was the liquor department. The punch bowl had to be explained to a number of people. Then we had a large supper for which my dad actually helped peel the potatoes. Yep that was a memorable dad thing. As Larry and I were leaving, my cousin Nickie yelled at me because I was not planning on staying to help with the clean up etc. Never did figure out where she got the idea that the bride stayed and helped with that part of the event.

The story of changes continues. We did not have a dance after the supper as neither Larry or I were the dancing type. Not sure if this fact or the fact that Larry’s minister from his Lutheran church took part in the ceremony at the Catholic church was the bigger shocker. As far as I know, that was the first time a Lutheran or anyone other than a Catholic priest was in the local church. Would be interesting to know if the Catholic/Lutheran togtherness ever happened again in that little rural church.

That was the beginning of our 51 years together first living in Lake City, in town Hastings and then rural Hastings for the past 35 years. Daughter Nissa became a part of our life in 1977 and I changed jobs several times in unexpected directions. Time stops for no one. We always had room for more new knowledge or experiences and learned that sharing them is the greatest part of it all. Sometimes people did not always understand Larry’s way of doing it with his long stories, etc. Another great part of our life was seeing our daughter grow up and become very successful in the field she choose. Some times we used to say “how did that happen” as we were not always the “typical” parents. Not many parents allowed their 8th grader to fly off to Russia for 2 weeks in enemy land with a school group. Then later we “allowed” her to go to college out of state and out of state was New York. She got closer to home with grad school in Michigan but then back east to Maryland for post doc work.

Thanks to each and everyone of you for your support. I wish I could find the right words to say how thankful I am.

SPELLING BEE

BY BEA WESTERBERG