Category: Reflecting

My Wild and Crazy Dad

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My dad was a fun guy when we were growing up.  There was nothing he would not try at least once and he never met anyone that he did not like and everyone liked him. He was a positive guy with a positive attitude. He is still fun and still positive, even though he is in his Eighties.

He grew up in Montana originally, and then his family moved to Buckman, Minnesota.    Dad was very talented musically.  He could play guitar and when he sang he sounded like Johnny Cash.   He actually played in a local band with a woman who played accordion and concertina and IMG_0507sang and they had a drummer. He quit the band when we were young and I think the staying up late on weekends in the local bars playing music became a problem for a guy taking care of a young family. However music was always part of our family activities.  We even had guitars along when we were camping. Yes, we actually did sing Kumbaya around the campfire with our cousins.  Everybody had a lot of kids, so camping was a few adults and then a boat load of kids that were all different ages. Everybody got included in everything no matter what age. Those were fun times!

He and Mom raised us on a beef cattle farm by Pierz, Minnesota, in which they took great pride.  My dad’s main job was driving truck for a road construction company and he drove everything from the large belly dump trucks to hauling heavy equipment. Many times he had to be gone during the week, living in our Winnebago travel trailer and coming home on weekends. So my Mom, a strong woman of German heritage, and we kids took care of the farm and cattle during the week. Beef cattle were fairly self sufficient in the summer.  Towards the end of the week we would have made plans for our family adventures.  We went camping, swimming and boating.  Dad got a large truck tire inner tube at one point and blew it up and we took turns trying to IMG_0510stand on it while swimming in the local lakes. He was with us the whole time trying to stand on it too. We all took a lot of dunks in the lake before we mastered that.

When we were teens, my Dad bought a boat and a pair of water skis and we all learned it.  Dad was first to try since it was his idea.  He mastered it in no time and was skiing on one ski.  We had a lot of fun with that boat in the 1970’s. He was always encouraging us to try new things and he always exuded complete confidence in our abilities. My mom was the same way and taught us to drive tractors and ride horses. She went along with all of our shenanigans.

We were the first in the neighborhood to buy snowmobiles, also in the 1970’s, and we used an old cover of a washer to pull behind the snowmobiles with a long rope like a snow saucer.  I amIMG_0508 surprised we survived that swinging around in crazy fashion through our snow covered farm fields.  When our neighbors and cousins got snowmobiles we would have large get togethers in the woods and start a campfire, roast hot dogs and drive snowmobiles at night.

For big family adventures  we planned vacations around farm work and Dad’s road work. I remember we went to Colorado in a long weekend by driving all night long.  When we reached Greely, Colorado, there were lots of young people driving and walking along the roads for a concert in town.  We experienced the beauty of Colorado and had great family time together.

IMG_0509There were very few things that my dad did not try and very few that he did not master.  He and Mom were excellent dancers, and he taught me to polka with him too. My grandpa, his dad, spent a lot of time at our farm too.  Grandpa and Dad built us a teeter-totter that not only went up and down, but also around.  It was dangerous looking back at it, but it was really fun and no one got seriously hurt.  They also built us a harness for our German Shepard dog. We hooked him up to the red wagon, with one of us sitting in the wagon and the others driving bikes in front of the wagon, and that dog would run like his tail was on fire down our long driveway giving the kid in the wagon the ride of their life.  The dog loved it.  When we brought out the harness he got all excited.

My dad is still an adventurous guy.  Even though he is in his eighties, he likes to travel with their RV and go fishing and camping. He and Mom still attend fun community and church activities, go out to dinner, and play cards with friends. He is still as fun as ever and still finds friends no matter where he goes.  He has taught us to be accepting of everyone, to explore the world, show kindness, be adventurous and not be fearful to try new things. Life is a gift.

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Adventure is in the Genes

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I came to the conclusion that we all get our spirit of adventure in an honest way.  My parents, who are now in their eighties and have been married for over 60 years, were putting on th34aeir adventure pants long before REI invented them.  They were married in their early twenties and started off their life together with a three week driving adventure to Yellowstone, the Canadian Rockies, and Colorado.  They made a big loop, taking their time and traveling in a mint green Buick. They have awesome pictures to remember the event and I have attached some of them.

They looked so Fifties, with my Mom’s rolled up jeans and Dad looked like James Dean.  Extremely handsome and more importantly, they were both fun and adventurous. My Mom 37balways said that they each gained 20 lbs (exaggeration also runs in the family) from eating so many potato chips and malts while on vacation.

They have never shied away from adventure and in fact embraced the unknown and unexpected when traveling.  Mom and Dad have been to every state and most of them more than once over the years.  They have been to China, Japan and rented an RV and took a driving trip around Australia.  They took a cruise through the Panama Canal and drove the road to Hana in Hawaii.  Even though they were farmers from Pierz, their world was very large.  They are still active getting together with friends and going fishing and traveling with their RV.  They just don’t go as far anymore.38a

Their lust to see the world goes way back. In 1947, Dad and his only brother and parents traveled out West through the mountains in a 1942 Plymouth.  He did most of the driving, his brother read the maps and did the navigation, and his parents sat in the back seat – even though he was only 16 years old at the time and the mountain roads were gravel and narrow. You could not have paid me enough to sit in the back seat of a car while any of my 16 year olds had control of the car on Mountain roads. My grandparents had complete confidence in my dad and his abilities, and he lived up to their expectations.

35eHe bragged when we were young that he got his driver’s license from the Postmaster in town when he was 12.  The only test was the Postmaster asking him, if he could drive and he said “yes” and so he was given a license.

My grandparents also traveled a lot.  When I was growing up they took driving vacations every year and sometimes flew to their destinations. They went to Florida and brought us back a letter holder that had flamingos on it and sea shells.  My parents still have that letter holder. They also brought us a sea shell that they taught us to hold to our ear to hear the Ocean.  I still have that sea shell.

46aMy grandparents and parents gave us a gift. They showed us that travel is fun, that the world is a big and beautiful place and they taught us not to fear the unknown, but to embrace it.  They taught us to use our time on this earth wisely and to never waste an opportunity to enjoy our time off.  As simple as the lesson seems, so many struggle and worry about work more than it deserves.  The work will get done. We are not here to work our lives away. Time is your most valuable commodity. Take control of your time and seize the moment to enjoy your life!

Not Real Adults

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Our family adventures gave our kids the self reliance to go on their own adventures as they became adults. When our youngest, Jenny, graduated from High School she was 18 years old and my son, Ben was already in college and was 20. The two of them and one of Ben’s friends, who had been at our house on and off for years, came to us with a plan for an adventure of their own. They wanted to take a two week driving trip to Glacier National Park, Idaho, and back through Montana and Colorado. They borrowed our Tahoe and took the GPS and mapped their route, through theIMG_3604 national Parks and federal campgrounds and all of the sites they wanted to see. Ben was studying geology and he knew specific areas he wanted to cover. They took the cooler and did mostly camping, but occasionally stayed at a hotel for showers and better beds. They made plans for the amount of money they needed and packed everything up and off they went. They stayed in contact, so we knew they were doing well and they posted pictures frequently on Face book and Instagram, of the gorgeous campsites, mountains and streams they were seeing. They actually planned ahead and took organic shampoo and they cooked over the campfire. As parents it was a little scary, but we knew they had the skills to handle the adventure and we were proud that they had the self confidence and drive to plan and go on this adventure. Everything went well and they returned with great stories and we could tell that they had bonded and seemed even closer than before they had shared this special adventure.DSC_4535 After they had returned, I happened to be at a neighbor’s garage sale. She had a son Jenny’s age. He was at the sale hanging out with some other friends. He asked how Jenny was doing andIMG_3389 I said that she had just gotten back from their adventurous driving vacation out west with her brother and his friend. He was really animated and excited and said that he had seen Jenny and Ben’s pictures on Instagram and mentioned one particular one with their orange tent in the foreground and the mountains in the back. I told him they had come back with some great stories about how they had gotten lost at one time, but Jenny then found their way out of that situation by navigating, and how they had met one guy in the campground who had taught them to bake bread in a Dutch oven over a campfire. The young guy’s mother was overhearing our conversation and asked me with a look of disbelief. She said, “They went by themselves?” I told her “yes,” and repeated the details, “my son who is 20, his friend who is also 20 and Jenny who was 18.” She repeated in disbelief again, “but by themselves? I said “yes.”  “With no adults?” she said. I said “No, they are all adults. Jenny is 18 and the other two are 20.” She looked at me and said insistently and in a firm tone with her forehead furrowed, “No I mean real adults.” I responded, a little confused and in a slow way, “They are real adults. “ She walked away shaking her head. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t tell this story tocriticize her as a Mom. God knows raising kids is not an easy job, we all make mistakes and there is no perfect way. But what struck me is that we try so hard to protect our children sometimes that we lose track of the reality of their age. In fact her son was also 18 and even though she felt he was not a “real” enough adult to be trusted to go on a road trip to some National Parks in the western United States, in fact he was adult enough to walk to a local recruiting office, join the military and be surviving in the deserts of the middle east and, all of that could be done without her permission. The one thing I have learned in hindsight is that our kids at every age would always live up to our expectations. When we showed confidence in their abilities, they had confidence in their own abilities and could be successful. We taught them early on that mistakes were OK and trying new things was essential, for a fun and full life.

Put Your Adventure Pants On

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A perfectly clean house has never been a priority for me, so I was not surprised when I went to move my bedroom dresser to retrieve a dropped necklace and found it face up, in a snow pile of dust bunnies. Some bunnies were so large that one could imagine spending time in a craft project, gluing eyes on them to look like real bunnies. Creepy for sure, but they were that large.

This would be embarrassing for many who pride themselves on their house cleaning skills and while I would never want a dirty house, a little dust here and there has not bothered me, especially when our kids were home. I would rather go walk in the woods with them and pick up fall leaves for an art project or play with the hose or in the sand box than clean house. That was true when they were older too. I would spend time with them outdoors or we would take them biking or playing sports. Even now that we are empty nesters, I would rather go on the boat or hiking or biking than clean house. I have no remorse about those choices.

While cleaning the mound of dust bunnies uncovered by my jewelry mishap, I found all kinds of other interesting things lost in the abyss of the dresser caverns. Other jewelry pieces that were never missed enough to do a full scale search and a stray button, but to my surprise, among the lost items was a photo of me standing on a Glacier in Canada.

It was taken in 1995 when I was in my mid-thirties and I am holding my baby, Jenny who was less than a year old in the picture, but is now a college student and beside me stands my Ben, who was two years old and now is also a college student and my oldest, Sara who is five in the picture and is now out of college and in the working world, making a life of her own. It was striking and it transported me back in time. I have a smile from ear to ear and we all look happy, having just exited the large glacier snow bus onto the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Ice fields, during a two week driving vacation we had taken to Canada in our Ford Aerostar van.

Glacier1995I know the word fearless is getting a little too much use these days, but it is a good word and it described what I saw in the picture. The photo was a proud reminder of our fearlessness to adventure out even with three little kids. And I have to say, I have nothing but good memories of those trips. We must have had fussy kids sometimes, but that is not what I remember and when our grown kids talk about their vacations they do not remember anything negative about them either.

I remember the trip went well. We planned ahead on these adventures, but our plan was never so rigid that we could not fly by the seat of our pants sometimes, and we could adapt to unforeseen changes in weather or unplanned events. On this particular adventure we did a large loop through Canada and saw everything from the dolphin show at the Edmonton Mall to the glaciers and mountains in the Canadian Rockies. We had three little kids, but no worries. We made our way, day after day experiencing new sights and foods and we laughed and we had fun. We would go with the flow and eat when we were hungry and sleep when tired. We played in Hotel pools and ordered Pizza.

The saying in our family since the kids were very young is “Put your adventure pants on and let’s go!” We have been on many adventures with our family and now as empty nesters, my husband and I have sought many new adventures. Our kids are not afraid to go on their own adventures through college or with friends and I like that fearlessness in them when it comes to travel.

I look into the face of that young woman, 35ish version of me and those little kids, smiling and knowing Dad is behind the camera smiling too and I see happiness and see a family who was never afraid to put their adventure pants on. I look back and I wonder how we had the guts and the brains to make those choices. I cannot explain it because I think we are very average in many ways, but I am sure glad we did it. Life is short and I know it is said too often, but those child-rearing years flew by and those kids are now gone. I am glad I spent little time worrying about dust bunnies and cleaning, and took the time to enjoy those kids and show them the world with our adventure pants on.

Lessons from a Puppy

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Being in the work world, no matter what your profession, can be challenging and sometimes discouraging. It can be a roller coaster. Some days you are on top of the world and other days the naysayers and the negative energy gets to you. Some days I leave the office and I am dragging my tail.

After one particularly bad day I came to be reminded that I had to go to the humane society with my 11-year-old daughter. She had decided about a month before that she wanted to be a volunteer and my husband and I were quite pleased that she took the doginitiative and wanted to help out. Of course, after we praised her up and down and after much back slapping she informed us that because she was under 12, she needed a parent with her, each and every time she volunteered. Because of the initial fuss we had made about her wonderful decision to help out, we couldn’t gracefully decline going along without looking bad. Now, I grew up on a farm and I love animals, but my husband never had pets until he met me. So guess who was going to be the parent volunteer.

When I got home after my bad, bad day, I was reminded that tonight was our first night to be volunteers. My silent thoughts raced quickly. Could I lie and tell her we got a call and they are closed? Could I just say I’m too tired? Could I fake illness? None were options without teaching her the wrong lessons and she looked so excited about her first night. I said “O.K.” with as much enthusiasm as I could muster and we were off.

In the beginning we were doing pretty much what we expected. Walking unruly, untrained but sweet dogs who needed some love and a home. My daughter and I talked and laughed as the dogs would become tangled around our legs, and the larger ones would practically pull her around the outdoor path provided for exercise. After a while we were asked if we could bathe a puppy who wasn’t being adopted as quickly as they normally are, because it seems he was quite dirty and smelly. We went to get him and his condition was not exaggerated. He was dark brown with downy long hair. He had the face of a Collie with a long nose and beautiful eyes, but his fur was actually sticky and he stunk like urine. He had been abandoned but if we could get him cleaned up he would surely be adopted because he was the sweetest thing. My daughter and I went to work.

We were shown to the small bathing area in the back. It was only large enough for the raised dog washing station, a sink, my daughter and me. With the door closed, we had little room to maneuver. We lifted the big puppy into the sink and tried to reassure him that this was not going to be something bad, but of course he was shaking like a leaf. We carefully made sure the water was warm but the sprayer was still on the strong side which was scaring the puppy. As we were moving around and spraying down the puppy, we unknowingly knocked over a large bottle of shampoo. The puppy was trying to escape and we were trying to spray him down and shampoo him. We were becoming soaked ourselves in this Laurel and Hardy attempt to wash this puppy. All of the sudden we realized the gallon size shampoo had spilled on the tile floor. Since my hands were busy, my daughter Sara grabbed the bottle and I tried to find the cover. While watching her do this, I wasn’t watching where I was spraying because I was still holding the squirmy puppy and I realized I was spraying water on the ceiling. I grabbed it quickly, but now the water was dripping down onto the shampoo loaded floor and it was becoming very slippery for Sara and me to move around. Just as we were in full chaos, dog2there was a knock at the door from the executive supervisor who said “Is everything okay?” We both busted out laughing. We looked like a bad Lucille Ball episode. Our hair was dripping and our clothes and shoes were wet and slimy with soap and water, but the puppy looked great. We dried him off and fluffed his hair. He was as cute as a bunny and was adopted the very next day.

I would go crazy but for my family. They really do bring you back to earth and help you to remember what’s really special and important, and what needs to be left at the office. Family and humor cannot be overrated. We need both to overcome those things that bring us down and to make our lives fun.

Simpler Things, Simpler Times

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I am a middle-aged attorney/shareholder and division leader in my firm. I make good money. I have three wonderful children, a husband of 15 years and a big house in the Northern Suburbs of Minneapolis. So why do I miss the farm?

I grew up on a small beef cattle farm in Buckman, Minnesota. I picked rocks every spring as soon as I was strong enough to lift the small ones and I weeded the garden, baled hay and helped to care for the animals. We worked hard, but we also played hard. Animals were everywhere: cats and kittens, pigs and piglets, chickens, geese, dogs, a horse and of course lots of cows and calves. Life, death, and reproduction were a part of our every day life. My memories are filled with long summer days, running and playing in the creek by our house and building forts. I can still feel the sensation and exhilaration of taking a hot shower and dropping into bed totally exhausted after a hard day of baling hay. There is no bed that ever felt better and no sleep that was so restful.

My heart is in Buckman. The farm was sold many years ago and my parents retired to town. When we visit I always ask my husband to drive slowly past our farm. I have an overwhelming urge to jump from the vehicle and run home. I can’t explain it, but despite the fact that I have not lived there for over 25 years, it still looks and feels like home. How can one place on earth become so much a part of me that despite the years, the education, the job, husband, children and the good times in my current life that I long for it so.

When I graduated from high school, I couldn’t wait to leave for college and see what the world had in store for me. My parents encouraged higher education. To try to better ourselves is still a strong value in our family, probably a result of our immigrant heritage. It at least must have temporarily overpowered our connection with the land.

But, the old adage “You can take the girl off the farm, but never take the farm out of the girl,” is truly wise. Despite my success and happiness, at times I am a fish out of water. Something for me always seems to be missing. It is a grieving process with no closure. It is a fantasy for me to daydream about, leaving the city behind and moving back to the farm. Leaving the traffic jams, the stress, noise and life flying by at hyper speed. I fantasize about getting up in the morning, skipping the shower, hair and make up and instead of the suit, throwing on a pair of jeans and heading out to sit on the front steps to pet the dog with my morning coffee before setting out to feed the animals and weed the garden. Do our relatives and friends who had the guts to stay and preserve their way of life really live like that while we run on in the rat race of the city or is my perception a fantasy? Or, is it that age old problem that the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. Do we long for what we don’t have?

I have come to the realization, unfortunately, that my longing is a product of age and greener pastures. Yes, I am getting older. What I long for is an era gone by. An age when times and things were more simple. My relatives and friends on the farm work very hard and worry daily about the joan_simpler thingsweather, the prices of the products, farm conglomerates and how to maintain a living in a business and a way of life that is slowly being choked out.

They run their kids to activities and worry about violence and how to encourage their children to become responsible and productive adults just like we do. I know my fantasy is probably just that, a fantasy. But, I will always envy those who stayed for being able to have coffee on the steps while petting the dog. It took a lot of guts for those who stayed. I will always miss my basic connection to the farm and the memories that attend it.

I miss the era gone by, but also the way of life that still exists. I have learned to attempt to fill my void by living on 2 ½ acres of woods in a busy city. I have dogs and feed the wild birds. I volunteer at the humane society and take my kids out into the woods as often as possible. I plant flowers and vegetables and dig in the dirt.

I will never have the farm back or that way of life, but it is a part of my very being and brings a smile to my face in stressful and busy times. Others from the city may have memories of growing up, but the farm is a part of the very essence of my being. If you see a lawyer with dirt under her nails, it’s me, and I am proud of it.

Two Beards and a Bag of Cans

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Most days I take the same route to work at my law office. My tunes are playing and I am engrossed in my mental list of things I want to make sure I get done. I have found I need to do this or the minute I hit the office the phone is ringing and the emails are coming in and if I am not careful, my day is gone on new matters and crisis and I have not accomplished the things I wanted to make sure to finish. If I am not careful the day is gone before I know it.

A number of years ago I noticed that on my daily drive I was passing the same two older, possibly retired guys walking on the sidewalk on the same side of the street. It was a slow driving street so I would see them up ahead coming towards me as I drove in the opposite direction.

The first maybe ten times or more they were there and even though I noticed them I did not really take note of them or think much of them. They were probably in their late sixties or early seventies, and either close friends or possibly brothers. One was slightly taller than the other and they walked at a lively clipped pace. They both had evidence of a few too many Friday night beers that now rested in their bellies. They both had a head of white hair and gray full beards that showed some attempt to stay trimmed but not quite evenly and the bottom crest of their beards landed on their middle chest reminding one of the nostalgic Santa pictures that Coke used in their ads for years. They were out, it seemed, no matter what the weather or the season.

They walked as if on a mission, arms swinging and talking as they made their way around the blocks or who knows where for fresh air, exercise or just to get out of the house. As I saw them more frequently I began to notice them more closely. Every day they carried an old Wal-Mart or target bag and you could see that it held crushed cans and some paper. It occurred to me on a day when I was not as self absorbed as usual that they were bending over occasionally and filling the bag with small garbage bits discarded by others and aluminum cans.   The two made my mind wander and imagine and make up reasons why they were doing this.two beards

They were keeping the streets clean as they walked along. Had they started their walking routine to stay in shape, get fresh air, and get out of the house? As they did this repeatedly walking along sharing stories and discussing retired old guy interests, they walked long enough and often enough that they started to be bothered by others’ discarded garbage on the streets they walked every day. Offended by others’ discarded garbage, and wanting to make sure their streets were up to their standards, they started to bring the bag and collect.

I suspect that they had little interest in the can collection fee but by the very amount of time they spent on those streets they now felt ownership of them and a certain responsibility that ones feels to keep their own home clean, so as they developed their feeling of ownership they collected and cleaned up, never breaking conversation but just proceeding with the understanding that after their walk the streets were better than when they started.

Their world is small and constant. A walk every morning around the neighborhood. But instead of walking and not taking in their environment they are improving it. Just two bearded guys and a bag of cans, making the world better in their own small way.

Whenever we think we cannot make a difference and the world problems are just too big to tackle. I think of the two bearded guys who are making a difference every day on University Avenue.

One Small Spot on the Planet

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It occurred to me in my fifties that I had been coming to the same workplace for over 25 years. The same four story office building and the same small parking lot in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Now don’t get me wrong, I have traveled a lot. More then most people I know. But the thought that I had wasted so many years in this very small area of the world bothered me. I had not thought about it before. I don’t dislike my job, but I don’t live for my job either. I have made good money at it, but we only have so many days, so many years to live and I have wasted a lot of them driving the five miles to work and spending five days a week in this one building in this one postage stamp – no, pinhead area of the world. There are so many places that I have not seen.

We only have a limited number of days to live in this world, why did I have to spend so many of my days in this office building? To make money? To have health insurance? Some say to be fulfilled, but that one I doubt because I think if I were independently wealthy, I could make good use of my time and money and be very fulfilled and even more fulfilled then going to my day job each work day. I feel like a hamster on a wheel.

So how do I justify the time “wasted” in this one small area?

I remind myself how I have made a good living for myself and my family. I could not have done so if I were not committed to a career and the time and energy that career takes, but make no mistake, I picked wrong.

I could have been a biologist on a ship in the ocean studying the seas. I could have been Jacques Cousteau. I could have been a park ranger and been a part of our country’s natural beauty instead of in a stuffy office building.

Yes, those would have been exciting, but I would not have had my children’s stable family life and all of the fun and excitement that came with having a big and happy family. We did our share of travel and we had a nice house and did fun things on a weekly basis, all made possible by the “stuffy” office work.

The choice of stability and routine reaped many benefits for our entire family, and it was a good choice in hindsight. The grass may look greener on the other side, but even those adventurous lives have their downsides. We just don’t see them on TV.

We know this in hindsight because with age comes the realization that for every choice there is both positive and negative. It is what you do with the time and your focus on the positive that makes for a happy life. Appreciate what you have accomplished for yourself and your family. There is nothing that steals your happiness like always wanting more and wanting what you don’t have. What you have and what you have accomplished is amazing!

I Forgot How Good Cherry Kool-Aide Tastes

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desolate MNIt was -22 degrees today in Minnesota. On my lunch break I decide to stop at my favorite AAA office, because I needed some brochures to plan a trip out of this frozen tundra. If I have something, some big adventure to look forward to, I can go about my business in this state, even in the winter, with a smile on my face, because I have something to look forward to. It is a secret I learned about myself long ago.

Well I was off, but quickly grumbling in the entry way of my office building, because at these temperatures one needs every square inch of skin covered or it freezes. I had my coat, hat and scarf, but had forgotten my mittens back up on the 4th floor. I knew I could run to my car with my hands in my pockets, but I quickly realized I had to go back for the mittens because at -22 degrees I would not be able to work the icy steering wheel without gloves. So back upstairs I went.

Sufficiently crabby by now, I made my way to my car, mentally patting myself on the back for buying the car with the seat heaters. I opened the door and even the steel of the car door creaked like it was in pain. I sat and warmed my car the requisite 10 minutes—something my husband insisted should be done in this weather—to drive only five miles to the AAA travel office. As I pulled up to the strip mall setting of their office I could see all kinds of travel posters taped in the windows in awkward angles like music group posters in a thirteen year old kid’s bedroom. I already felt better, excited.

I found refuge in the warm office, and I swear they had the heat turned on high to purposely give one the feeling of better climates. As I peeled off my layers I could hear the steel drum music playing over the sound system, and I could hear the chatter of travel agents on their headsets, booking flights and explaining package tours to eager Minnesotans ready to escape.

I was waived to the seating area by the receptionist as she finished with her caller. They had Disney cruise and Disney park information everywhere and they had Mickey Mouse cookies and cherry Kool-aide in a large clear sweaty pitcher, complete with Mickey Mouse-shaped floating ice cubes. I poured myself a glass and washed down a Mickey cookie,  my cheeks tingling from the change in temperature. It was not a painful tingle, but almost an awakening of a sleeping limb tingle that brought a smile to your face. I could taste the sweet cool cherry flavor descend all the way down my throat and into my stomach. I could not just have one glass. It was like tasting the most refreshing drink I have ever had. It tasted like vacation and summer and picnics. It tasted like warm sunshine and bare feet in the sand. I forgot how good cherry Kool-aide tastes!