September Dawn

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Pete

September Dawn

There is a day in September that divides Summer from Fall.  My internal calendar understands that this day is quite transient. It comes at its’ own pace.  One day it appears and demands acknowledgement.

This September dawn is the day that marks when all things have been harvested.  This is the day to cut down the stalks of corn, now dry and withered. appleharvest It is the day to pull the zucchini plants, the tomato vines, and to make ready the world for the slumber that lies ahead.

The crispness in the air, the shortness of the days – daylight may still rule but grudgingly relinquishes its’ dominance to night.  It is, after all, inevitable.  Even the sunlight prepares for the slumber that lies ahead.

This day marks the end of daylights’ mastery over our lives.  Gone are the endless summer days – the days when you can hear the crops grow or watch the tomatoes ripen.  What had become of the days of planting,  the hours of mowing, or the row upon row of hay?

Were the endless days of adventure and the certainty of baseball ever really there?  Perhaps it was an illusion.  On this September dawn, it is hard to imagine those days had happened.

There is a fleeting sadness on this day.  For kids, school now rules your waking moments with the reality of drudgery.  Certainly exciting at first, to see your friends and compare adventures.  It is only later that we mourn the loss of the freedom of life bestowed upon us during summer.  Such is the power of this September dawn.  DSC01281-001

This is the day when mitts give way to footballs.  Football creeps in to our lives with college teams protecting their honor and professionals promoting their sponsors.   Saturdays are for the alma mater and Sundays emphatically state this Buds’ for you.  Scandalously funny.

The reign of baseball comes to a close.  On this September morning, the mitt is replaced by the football only after performing the proper rituals. Oiling your glove and placing a baseball squarely in the pocket is the age-old benediction of summers favorite sport.   A reminder, perhaps, of the promise of next spring and the resurrection of glory days to come.  Sort of a Rawlins sarcophagus minus the scarab beetles.

This September dawn sends us on the pilgrimage of the last long bike ride or long hike. SAM_0253 Some years, a final campout is warranted, wringing the last golden drop from the season before October’s frigid blast delivers the ultimate eulogy on summer.  The last sojourn where water, not warmth, rules.

 

As many things in life, including the sun, head south, you begin to realize that it is you that remains stationary, not the season.  You realize now that the seasons move around you, rather than you moving through the seasons.

You learn to say your hellos and goodbyes as needed, for all things return in their own time.

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Posted on September 4, 2015 by Pete

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Play Ball

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Pete

Batter Up!

Rural America had a passion for baseball in the 1950’s – 1960’s.  In the years before that, as the Utah settlers found the need to relax, towns put together teams that traveled between communities such as Tooele, Grantsville, Cedar Fort, Eureka and other budding metropolises.

In smaller towns such as Erda, Stockton, St. John and Pine Canyon – boys played ball before they learned to write about it – long before.  Baseball was organized into minor league, pony league and Babe Ruth.  Ages 8 thru 12 were eligible for minor league and all the small farming communities fielded a minor league team.

ondeck

After the age of 12, to continue to play in the leagues meant traveling to Tooele in order to be on a team.  That was difficult when there was hay to haul or fields needing plowed.

For young farm lads, being eight years old entitled them to play in a league with other kids ranging in ages eight through twelve.  By today’s standards, it is unthinkable to expect 8 year olds’ to compete with 12 year olds’.  No one thought much about that back then.  Simply the way it was.

In fact, the collective attitude seemed to be ‘Let me at them’!  We were not daunted in the least, at least outwardly.  Continue reading →

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Erda Directions

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Pete

Erda Directions

Like all directions in Utah, these directions begin at the Church. The old Erda Chapel was a magnificent building located on Church Road. We do like to keep things simple that way – it is good for the Californians.

In small Utah towns, these Mormon chapels were the absolute center of our universe.   In my universe of the 1950’s and 1960’s, that was no different.

LDS Chapel

The Erda Church was constructed much the same as other rural churches of the era. The chapels I have visited in rural Utah have a familiarity emanating at the molecular level. These chapels have a large, central meeting room that serves as meeting hall, dance floor, auditorium and funeral parlor – depending upon the need.

These buildings were required to be the spiritual center, social hall, voting place and, as mentioned in a previous blog, centers for celebration.

One end of these multi-dimensional rooms consisted of a stage. The community stage.   On this stage,  the major happenings of our lives took place.   These stages had a seemingly magical link to a deeper part of our consciousness – the part that is never erased in the normal hubbub of life.

The stage, of course, had the spiritual connection – it’s primary purpose for existing.  Many other magical events took place such as the yearly family portraits – many times the only common photograph that these isolated family units would ever have.

In addition to the annual photographs, the stage served as the initial experience that many a budding artist or earth-shaking orator would have – this author included.   All children were conscripted to nativity plays, Easter plays and Halloween skits.   As we aged and the expectations of us by others grew, the dreaded ‘two and a half minute talk’ was assigned and judgment given.   On Roadshow nights, out would come the guitars and banjos – accompanied by adolescent voices cracking at the most inopportune moments.

For many a young farmboy, the ‘cultural hall’ was the first place to dance with a girl.   A couple of times a year the 45 RPM records would come out and the shoes would come off.   Who knew dancing the Twist could be so fun?

The outside of the church was where the real meaning of a community center was earned. Here was the concrete slab with basketball standards complete with hoops and, once a year at least, nets.

On this concrete court the game of Erdaball was created. To be played properly, a player should be wearing cowboy boots and a long-sleeved shirt. Some may say that our version of full-contact basketball was uncivilized but there was a high degree of skill involved in determining the thin line between personal foul and assault. The golden rule applied in this case as one would never do anything that they were not willing to have done to them – multiple times.

The center of reverence and respect was at this location – not necessarily the church itself but the baseball field behind the church. Here was the absolute axis of the community in summer months. The arena of rural America!

agrarianism baseball

The ball field in Erda was very special, it was the icon of our small town.   The ball field was where sinner and saint could co-exist in a common cause, – community pride.   Come back soon and share the story of Erda, it’ll still be here.

 

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Class of 1975 Senior Summer 1974 to 1975

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Pete

Our Senior Summer! Can you believe it? What a great time to be alive. With our older classmates gone, we looked around to see who was in charge and discovered that we were. Most of us having entered high school just three short years ago would scarcely recognize our former selves that summer of 1974.

We had changed dramatically but the changes had come about day by day over the course of those three years. New friends, new ideas and new opportunities had brought us to our last year of high school.

The events of the world, on the other hand,  did not exhibit the same good manners that we had shown in our change – the world changed in abrupt fits and spasms. We lived our senior lives in a breathless and vivid real-time adventure back then – which is today’s history lesson to be Googled by our children and grandchildren.  More than proud to be a part of it – we earned it.

Those funny little tags called UPC codes, indispensable to life on this planet today, were introduced to us in June. Surely this would go the way of the metric system.

upc2

In July, Turkey and Greece began to slug it out over Cyprus and we wondered why anyone would fight over Magna. Wrong Cyprus.

Richard M. Nixon became the first United States President to resign in August of 1974. The nation was aghast and angered that they had been misled. The (new) Vice President – Gerald R. Ford, relatively unknown less than a year ago, was the new President. We had witnessed the world’s strongest country peacefully change leadership.

nixon resigns

September and our senior year begins with the Carpenters telling us what we already knew – we were on the “Top of the World”. Brownsville Station warned us about “Smokin in the Boys Room” but who would be silly enough to do that? That’s what the benchs in the park were for!

ABBA was tearing it up at “Waterloo”, Paul was flying with Wings and who knew Ringo could sing? I always just figured he played the drums to keep him away from the microphone.

October gave us two immortal terms – Rumble in the Jungle and Rope-A-Dope. Ali takes back the title, allowing Foreman to start his grill enterprise.

The United Nations invites the Palestine Liberation Army to attend sessions, provided they sit quietly and play nice. Why would they want to do that when John Lennon and Elton John are rocking the Garden just down the street?

During December, the last Japanese soldier surrenders in Indonesia. That is a tough way to get a 38 year pension.

January 1975 begins with Stevie Nix joining Fleetwood Mac. Vice-President Rockefeller heads the International Womans Year commission.

Just in time for Margaret Thatcher to become British Prime Minister – first woman ever to be elected to lead a major government.

The beloved Charlie Chaplain was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Do they make bowlers with a visor?

The North Vietnamese Army attacks South Vietnam, quickly taking over large portions of the country. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia capture Phnom Penh – ending the Cambodian War.

College coaching legend John Wooden retires after winning his 10th NCAA college basketball championship in the last 12 years. Can anyone name the starting five…..?

Meanwhile in Albuquerque, New Mexico – Bill Gates and Paul Allen

start a company ….  MSlogos

North Vietnamese troops enter Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders.

Fall of Saigon

May of 1975 Apple Records stopped spinning. The Mayaguez incident in Cambodia costs the lives of 38 Americans. President Ford announces the end of the Vietnam Era.

The Class of 1975 graduated from Tooele High School into a world that did not include Vietnam but did have Microsoft. The Jackson 5 (yes, those Jackson’s) were making a Dancin’ Machine.  Utah’s very own Donnie and Marie were smiling away.

If you started work at the Depot, who would have imagined that it would only be a 20 year job? Many of us would take part in the Copper Rush at Carr Fork. Some would join the Armed Forces and serve their country bravely.

More than a few would take two years of their lives and serve their church, in America and abroad.

For many, education would continue to be a priority and a passion. Families were started, houses were built and jobs became careers.

We began to wish we had paid more attention to math classes as we balanced the checkbooks. Kimberly-Clark ranked right there with Jonas Salk in the life-saving department (as far as I’m concerned).

I would like to take a moment to remember Mike Smith. He never got much of a chance to savor our newfound adulthood. Like the rest of us, he had grand plans as he left the auditorium that night. He was killed in a motorcycle accident the next day before he could join the rest of us awaiting him at the sand dunes. Here’s a Tiger, Mike.

Proud to have known you all and to share this small corner of our planet with you. If we pass on the street and I do not see you first, please share a greeting with me. We may never pass this way again.

Graduation-cap-and-diploma

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Class of 1975 Junior Year 1973 to 1974

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Pete

With the start of our Junior summer, we began our own Seasons in the Sun. This was the summer to roll down the window, turn up the volume and enjoy our own special mixture of music.

The Beatles may have gone but they left us Paul and he had Wings. Elton John had magical connections to our hips and feet. Grand Funk got us rocking while Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver mellowed us out – Faarrr Outtt.

Jim Croce pulled our heart-strings out and put them in a bottle and Olivia Honestly Loved Us.

I am willing to bet that ALL of my classmates can still do two things – Sing the first couple lines of “Wild Thing” (involuntarily) and repair an 8 track tape (while driving is optional).

8 track

Our summer started with Secretariat shattering records at Belmont to win the Triple Crown. In Italy, J. P. Getty’s grandson was kidnapped – his kidnappers cutting off his ear to reinforce their intent.

Nixon opens talks with Brezhnev. The ‘Total Eclipse of the Sun’ lasts for over seven minutes.

In July we learned of ‘The Tapes’. Film legend Bruce Lee dies. Watkins Glen is attended by over 600,000 spectators.

August marked the end of the bombing in Cambodia – twelve years of combat involvement in South East Asia by American forces comes to an end.

Our junior year started just in time to witness ‘The Battle of the Sexes’ between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. King beat Riggs in three sets while 90 million viewers watched worldwide. Many more people than that were saddened to hear that Jim Croce had died in an airplane crash in Louisiana.

After Homecoming that year, the Middle East was thrown into the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the forces of Syria and Egypt.NoGas

This war captured our attention for 20 days as it was the basis for an oil embargo by OPEC countries against the United States.

 

It was also a time when the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of war. To make this October even more exciting, Spiro T. Agnew resigned as Vice-President of the United States amid allegations of tax evasion.

Nixon had his ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ and a meteorite crashed in Colorado.

A Peace Accord is signed by Israel, Syria and Egypt, cooling things down a bit in the Middle East but things heated up in Washington as President Nixon authorized the Alaska Pipeline.   The following day he explains to reporters that ‘He is not a  crook’ (effectively making Rich Little famous for life).

Eighteen and one-half minutes.  Need I say more?

Gerald Ford is approved by the Senate overwhelmingly as Vice-President. O.J. celebrated by rushing for over 2000 yards – setting a new record. The Endangered Species Act was passed by Congress.

January 1974 brought the F-16 to the Air Force – yes, the same plane in combat today in many parts of the world.    Should have bought General Dynamics stock with our lunch money.

The Skylab crew sets a new space endurance record of 84 days    (just hope they had lunch money).Heres Lucy

We said hello to People Magazine and goodbye to Here’s Lucy!

 

 

Earth’s population reaches 4 billion people. Hank Aaron reaches 715!!

Carrie was hot that year.

The World’s Fair opened in Spokane, Washington in May – did you go or did you go to Lagoon?

Blazing SaddlesSugarland Express

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Class of 1975 Sophomore Year 1972-1973

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Pete

Sophomore Summer started the precise moment the last yearbook was signed! Not only had we survived – we had thrived. A special time – made more exciting by the fact that many of us would soon drive (legally!!).

One of the blessings of Tooele’s semi-rural location was that most of us had learned to drive already but now we were no longer to be relegated to the back roads. Someday soon we could DRAG MAIN. Look out world, here we come.

It happened so steadily that we didn’t seem to notice. During our sophomore year, the world took some drastic changes. New words added to our vocabulary during the year ahead would include Munich, Space Shuttle, Aerosmith, Skylab, HBO, Libertarians, Bobby Fisher, Le Duc Tho and Mellow Yellow.

We saw the perfect horse in Secretariat and the perfect season in the Dolphins.

The World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world and a symbol of America but it was soon beaten by the Sears Tower.

Peace came to Vietnam for America but things were not peaceful in America.

During our sophomore summer Watergate became a household word. I watched in awe and a little bit of farm-boy suspicion as ‘those’ folks in Washington began to take grave measures. Things were not ‘perfectly clear’. Richard Nixon began to look a lot like Rich Little.

My heartthrob Jane Fonda began to look a lot like Hanoi Jane.  Soviets began to look a little chubbier on American wheat.  Rainbows gathered in Colorado.

One hot August day, while driving the tractor, I looked up and my heart momentarily stopped. Attending grade school in the early ‘60’s had prepared me for this day, but there was no desk to hide under. A huge meteor was glancing off the Earth’s atmosphere, beginning above Utah and leaving a streak clear into Canada. I had momentarily thought the Ruskies were nuking us or some other event of Biblical proportions was taking place before realizing it was a meteor. I didn’t carry my trusty Swinger camera with me back then, especially cutting hay, but what would I have given for a camera on that day.

72 meteor

We began our sophomore year at the same time the summer Olympics began in Munich. Watching in horror as Israelis were killed, I could not fathom anyone hating other human beings that much. It was a staggering shock to the world.

Mark Spitz

It overshadowed Mark Spitz winning 8 Gold Medals and Bobby Fisher saying checkmate in Reykjavik. It put a pall on Henry Kissenger and Le Duc Tho making great strides towards ‘Peace with Honor’.

Some crazy company called Home Box Office began operations.  Who would be goofy enough to pay for television when you could snatch it out of the air for free?

Richard Nixon kept his job for a second term.  Nixon looked more and more like Rich Little every day.   Mellow Yellow sold more than just tea.

In December, the final manned moon mission took place – no, they did not find Optimus Prime. They did find ‘The Blue Marble’.

Blue Marble Dec72

January 1973 brought us Aerosmith. Satellite TV brought Elvis from Hawaii right into our living rooms. The Dolphins brought us the Perfect Season in Super Bowl VII.

George Foreman grilled Smokin’ Joe Frazier while the Paris Peace Accord brought peace to Southeast Asia.  American POW’s began to come home. Nixon went back to China.

We learned of a place called Wounded Knee and listened to The Dark Side of the Moon.   Both places seemed rather far away from Tooele.

The Godfather won the Oscar while The Young and the Restless entertained us (or our moms at least).  Judge John Sirica was laying down the law to Mitchell and McCord.

Motorola introduced the first mobile phone while Fedex began visiting us overnight. The World Trade Center and the Sears Tower began to reach for the sky.

wtc2Sears Tower

Led Zepplin rocked Tampa to the largest crowd in history while Bobby Riggs beat Margaret Court to set the stage for the battle of the sexes.

America launches Skylab then must immediately repair it. Secretariat needed no repair as it broke records at the Kentucky Derby.

secretariat

When our sophomore year ended in May of 1973 the world had changed and so had we. At least we now had Pong.

Secretariat Junior High Photo

secretariat jrhigh

 

 

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Class of 1975 Freshman Years 1971 to 1972.

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Pete

The Tooele High School Class of 1975 left Junior High School in May of 1971 at the top of the Junior High food chain and entered HIGH SCHOOL three months later at the bottom of the heap. It didn’t matter. We were going to HIGH SCHOOL and that was a big deal! We had hazing to look forward to but, back then, we had the good sense not to die from it. After all, weren’t we those intrepid sojourners that had survived so many dangerous acts already – riding bikes without helmets, playing after dark, many of our parents had even smoked with us in the car and drank alcohol while they were pregnant. We were vaccinated and played Slug Bug.

We were a generation of daredevils but we did not know it, yet. That was pretty much how things were back in the early ‘70’s.

We likely were the first freshman class to enter high school without the probability that many of us were going to end up in the rice paddies of Vietnam, Republic of.  Acne was probably the strongest four-letter word that we used with any regularity.

Some new words were entering our vocabulary such as Weather Underground, Amtrak, Walt Disney World, Bangladesh, My Lai and Northern Ireland.

protest

We might have viewed the half a million protesters marching in the streets and marveled that there were half a million people anywhere – Utah only had a million or so people back then (if that).

We did, however, understand the importance of ‘The War on Drugs’.

We might have missed the announcement by an unknown company called Intel when they heralded the first microprocessor – the Intel 4004. Probably not, all we needed was 8-tracks.

Rover

During that summer of anticipation, we were justifiably proud that America had driven the first four-wheeler on the moon. Nobody would have thought to make a joke about the BLM trying to ban RV’s on the moon.

 

Nobody much cared that Norway began to produce oil in the North Sea – we had Texas and Oklahoma. No worries.

Finally, high school begins and the Class of ‘75 journey began with it. Exciting times. We knew we were important when the 26th Amendment was passed, giving us the right to vote in the 1976 elections!

We shook our heads at the audacity of D. B. Cooper and wondered if he lived to spend his ill-gotten fortune. The stuff of legends.  Continue reading →

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Salt Lake as a Bedroom Community for Tooele

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Pete

Not a typo. There was a time when it seemed that Salt Lake was the bedroom community for Tooele. A time when the traffic patterns on Hwy 36 were exactly the opposite as they are today. The reason for this anomaly was the Army Depot in Tooele.

igloos

The rush hour was comprised of TEAD traffic. When the Army Depot was in full swing – the Vietnam era, the 60’s, Tooele could not supply all the workers needed at the Depot. As they were good jobs, 30 year jobs, workers came from as far away as Ogden and Lehi to work each day.

Starting time for the Depot was typically 8 AM, which meant that during the time between 6:30 and 7:45, pulling out onto Hwy 36 could be a big problem. Same held true around 4:30 to 5:15 – the shorter window denoting the fact that water runs faster downhill, the workers were on their way home and traffic was confined to that narrower window of time.

Picture the morning rush coming from Salt Lake toward Tooele on a two lane road with no dividers, passing lanes or stop lights to facilitate traffic. Mills Junction would funnel some of this traffic to Sheep Lane for vehicles to enter TEAD from that gate. The majority of the morning rush to Tooele would continue into town, splintering off at Utah Avenue or passing right on through to the Main Gate.

After work, the flow was reversed as workers commuted back to Salt Lake or other bedroom communities such as Bountiful, Layton and even Ogden. The race for home and family was on! Traffic streamed past the Hillcrest, (an aptly-named restaurant at the top of Main Street) or into town via Utah Avenue. Other traffic would go out the north gate heading toward Sheep Lane, Grantsville and even to Burmester to access the freeway for home.

I should emphasize that during the ‘60’s there were two stoplights in Tooele – one on Vine Street and one for Utah Avenue. Mills Junction had no such luxury as a stop light or turning lane. For many years it was easily one of the most dangerous places in Utah.

For locals not taking part in the rush, TEAD traffic was something to be mindful of and to plan your day around. Many times I heard the phrase “Got to miss TEAD traffic” or simply “miss the traffic”, followed by the ritualistic glance at your wrist in order to calculate the available time before the start of the daily relay.

To be ‘on base’ at such a time was frightful for non-workers, yet fascinating because one could witness the phenomenon known as the ‘TEAD weave’ or the ‘Depot weave’. At quitting time, every building on the depot disgorged its quota of workers. Being a military installation and all, there was practically zero instances of beating the clock or having a buddy clock you out. There were armed security guards manning the gates and checking vehicles.

Parking lot intersections on the depot were four and five cars deep waiting to turn onto the road to the gate. The phenomenon of the TEAD weave was actually patience and courtesy in acceptance of the fact that everyone had the same goal in mind – getting home. Each car would wait their turn, nod and wave and join the throng heading out the gate. Having an accident on a military installation was an especially unpleasant experience to be avoided at all costs.

The Army Depot was, at certain times, one of the largest employers in the state. It rivaled Kennecott, it always dwarfed ‘the smelter’, it was larger than most private enterprise jobs around. This showed its’ importance during the Cold War, Vietnam and post-Vietnam era. Funny thing about those workers back then, if it was deemed important to the nation it simply got done, no complaints.

large_nerve

During the mid-70’s and early 80’s, the traffic flow from Salt Lake to Tooele increased again due to the opening of the Carr Fork Mine in the Oquirrih Mountains east of Tooele. This project added up to 600 jobs to Tooele, once again the shortfall of manpower was supplied by the fine folks of Tooele’s bedroom community – the Salt Lake Valley. This additional rush of vehicles on Hwy 36 was staggered somewhat by two factors. Anaconda operated the mine around the clock, staggering the glut of cars coming into Tooele away from the 7 o’clock rush the Depot already had dibs on. The second factor is that Droubay Road could be taken so that a portion of Hwy 36 could be avoided. The mine operated from 1976 thru 1983, with 1980 being the peak year for additional traffic.

I realize that hardly makes Salt Lake a bedroom community but it is fun to put it in that light. To a six year old farm-boy, it did seem as though Salt Lake served as Tooele’s bedroom community. I contributed to rush hour during the late 70’s and early 80’s as a commuter to Carr Fork. I became part of the reversal of the traffic flow during the late 90’s by commuting to Salt Lake on a regular basis.

The mine has long since closed. The Depot succumbed to the Force Realignment in 1995. I guess in closing that chapter of Tooele history there truly was a Realignment of traffic patterns in Tooele.  Drive Tooele Friendly!

 

 

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Erda 24th of July Parade

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Pete

Erda 24th of July Parade

The 24th of July, Pioneer Day, was cause for great celebration in rural Utah. My earliest recollection of this event is centered around the Erda parade during the Kennedy Administration. At that time, Erda was a town of around 500 hard-working souls. The 24th was celebrated with an energy that was specific to that day alone.

Erda celebrated with a parade and it seems as though half of the town participated in this kick-off event.  The parade began at the intersection of Church Road and Highway 36. The destination was the Erda Ward chapel. The church was expanded in 1964, so the Church I am talking about was the original chapel, social hall, dance hall and family picture studio for our community.  SAM_0058

The excited participants gathered beneath the huge trees to the south of the intersection. I cannot imagine where we parked all the cars but somehow we managed. It is likely that cars lined Hwy 36 and nothing much was thought about it, not much traffic on a Saturday on Hwy 36.

I rode my trike. The trike was gaily decorated with a red streamer woven between the spokes and strips of red paper attached to the grips. Very hot and very festive.

The July weather of my youth was hot and still. The hot weather could not lessen the energy of youth, the excitement was electric. It was positively unthinkable to be tired on such a short journey, it was only a mile. Child’s play, to be sure. When I think about how many times those short little legs had to peddle to get that tricycle down Church Road in July heat – ahh, the energy of youth!

My mom had outdone herself in decorating my trike. It seemed to me that all the parents were enjoying the event, but that is the way things were back then – no complaints. Parents of my childhood gave commands in the form of quiet advice, given often and freely. The term mother-hens comes to mind, they had excellent examples. This was their right and their duty.

I remember that many of the mothers walked behind the parade, starting out alongside their charges until it was apparent that more fun could be had if they fell back and let us be kids. We were very good at that. I am sure that the ones who could not walk the distance would ride the hay-wagon also taking part in the parade.  Some would fall back to their cars being driven by the fathers. They were perfectly okay with leaving their ‘chicks’ to the other mother-hens of the rag-tag flock we must have resembled. My mom walked the entire distance and had fallen back early, after sensing from me that her initial distance was not nearly far enough away.

In this jubilant fashion, our Erda Parade found it’s way to the Erda Church. As we neared the church, the number of houses alongside the road increased. Each of these houses sported a gang of cheerfully waving friends, most elderly. It must have seemed as though this parade was solely for them to enjoy.

Triumphantly entering the Church parking lot we dismounted and mingled, proud and excited to be part of such an important event. The Church yard had been transformed into a wonderland of fishing ponds, coin-tosses, dunking machines and scores of other games to be enjoyed. It was rumored that there would even be a snow cone machine there!  What a celebration.  Thanks Brigham!

Our celebration would continue throughout the day and include a softball game and a treasure trove of memories. Throughout my life, celebrations have attempted to capture the magic of my first 24th of July celebration but have fallen short. I realize today that there can be only one ‘first’ time for everything. At a celebration today, there is a young child being totally immersed in activities for the first time, creating memories that they might someday commit to paper for others to enjoy.

Special thanks to my mom, who was an active participant in bringing joy to others at that time in her life. Special thanks to Emma for cooking her world-famous Emma Burgers and having such a beautiful family. I feel the need to thank all those that came before and created the possibility for this amazing life.

 

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