Misty-watered colored memories

My oldest son turns 21 on Tuesday. I'll be taking part in a tour of North Dakota Coal Country with a bus full of state legislators on the 18th, so we are going to Minot tomorrow (August 16th) to celebrate Derek's birthday.

We've always tried to make birthdays special, and we hope our visit with Derek will be memorable as well. Besides his parents and his brother, he will be joined by his Grandpa Van Dyke, and two of his older cousins and their families from Plentywood. His oldest cousin Dave will bring his wife Cathy and two sons Blake and Craig. His next oldest cousin is Karen and she will bring along her son Cameron. We're meeting them at the zoo...and Minot's zoo is nothing to sneeze at.

Derek won't be able to join us until 5 p.m. because he is involved with some training at the college. He's the head resident at the freshmen boy's dormitory this year so has quite a bit of responsibility along with finishing up his classes so he can graduate in the spring.

To say I'm proud of Derek would be an understatement. But I've always been proud of him -- when he got his first tooth, took his first step and got his first haircut are all unforgettable moments for me.

I thought you might enjoy some memories from his birthdays...including his original birth day back in 1988. He was born at 10:36 p.m. and had plenty of dark brown hair. I took one look at him and thought that I needed to buy a little brush to keep his hair combed. Even today, he has a beautiful head of hair...only it's a lighter brown now.

On his first birthday in 1989, he was very excited to open his many gifts, which included a red and yellow toy lawn mower that he pushed everywhere. His birthday party was attended by his great grandmother Rose Frohlich, her son Uncle Phillip, along with Derek's godfather Uncle Miles and his wife Bernie. Derek got to make a mess out of a little birthday cake and Uncle Miles tried to get Derek to put his sticky hands in his hair.

On Derek's second birthday, he had all kinds of visitors because not only was it his birthday, it was the day his brother Scott was baptized. However, we started a tradition in 1990 that carried through for many of Derek's birthdays -- he ate at Red Lobster!

The toys on his third birthday included a toy gun, a truck and a magna doodle. Uncle Miles and Bernie were over for cake and ice cream. Uncle Philip was in the hospital with the stomach flu.

On his fourth birthday, Derek got a quilt from his Aunt Janet in Rapid City and a tricycle from his mom and dad. He also got a lot of money that he spent on games at the Ben Franklin store in Mandan.

On his fifth birthday he ate at Red Lobster and the servers came over and sang "happy birthday" to him. His Grandma and Grandpa Van Dyke were visiting from Roundup and they bought him a pair of walkie-talkies. He also got a bicycle from his parents...with training wheels.

His parents were in Louisville, Kentucky, on Derek's sixth birthday so it was up to Grandma and Grandpa Doll along with Aunt Amy to spoil him on his birthday. He and brother and cousins dined on a "Pink Panther" cake that Amy made for him. A lot of his presents this year had something to do with Power Rangers.

On his seventh birthday he got rollerblades and his best friends from Custer school -- Brad Lee and Nick -- were among the invited to help him celebrate.

His ninth birthday was spent in Baker, Montana, with me. We went to drilling rigs and compressor plants and shared a huge steak at the Green Dragon when the work was done. I remember sharing a bed with Derek that night only to find out that Derek slept diagonally and nearly kicked me out of bed.

On his 11th birthday, it was fun at Snoopers during the afternoon and then dinner at Red Lobster. Derek spent some of his birthday money on a Cubs jersey. I wonder if it was the one he wore for all of his high school pictures?

When he turned 12, it was lunch at Red Lobster and the afternoon at the Amusement Park in Sertoma Park. The boys played mini-golf and enjoyed the rides.

In 2001, he officially became a teenager and spent his birthday on a youth retreat at Rick and Margie Nelson's cabin beside a lake in Minnesota. We celebrated his birthday on August 16 and ate at Space Aliens. Derek bought a golf club and a model car with his birthday money.

His 14th birthday was a somber affair as we were in Glendive for his Aunt Cheryl's funeral. She died of cancer and left behind a husband and a fourteen-year-old daughter.

On his 15th birthday, it was back to Red Lobster and all the crab Derek could eat. He got a subscription to the Cubs magazine from his parents along with a Cubs glass from Aunt Janet. He used some of his birthday money to buy a ticket a Jeff Foxworthy concert.

His 16th birthday was spent with the Phillips family in Milbank as we were all heading to the Twin Cities for baseball games.

On his 17th birthday, Derek was eating at Paradiso with a bunch of his friends from high school.

As he was getting ready to head for college on his 18th birthday, he was greeted by a group of well wishers from church including Lisa, Jaymi, Kevin, Randy and Randy's mom Mary. They took him to Hardees for breakfast. We went to Minot State University with Derek for freshmen orientation. When we got home, Derek left us and went to Paradiso with another group of friends.

On his 19th birthday, we went to breakfast with the uncles and then Uncle Rich and I helped Derek move into his dorm at college. This one is nicer than last years and has air conditioning. For his birthday, Derek got Cubs and Bear shirts. Go Chicago!

Last year on his birthday, he was moving to Minot again and Uncle Rich was again in tow helping make the transition from summer intern to college student go smoothly. We ate lunch at Red Lobster before heading to Minot.

So there's 20 years of Derek's birthdays....here's to number 21.

Your loving Dad!

Things you think about when you are turning 50

On July 17th, 1959, a little baby boy was born to Willis and Evelyn Van Dyke in Roundup Memorial Hospital. He joined two brothers, Gene and Randy, and two sisters, Janet and Susan, in the family home.

It's hard to believe, but all of us were much younger back then. For instance, my 88-year-old father was only 38. My 61-year-old brother was 11 and so on.

It seems like life begins innocently enough...but gets tougher as you get older. Last Monday, for instance, I started having severe pain in right hip flexor -- even though I try to do no manual labor that would cause me to strain anything. I had a hard time lacing my right shoe because I couldn't move my right foot up so I could reach my shoe. Walking up stairs was also painful....and I thought, "it this what I've waited 50 years for?"

Luckily, within three days, the pain went away and I was able to play a pretty good game of golf on Thursday in the Lignite Energy Council's golf tournament at Apple Creek.

On August 24, I go in for my first colonoscopy. I guess it's one of the things you do when you turn 50. At breakfast today with a lot of people who have already turned 60, they told me that the procedure is a "walk in the park" and not to worry. The only hard part is drinking three gallons of liquid the day before and staying up all night as the liquid colon cleaner scrubs out your insides.

I was also delighted with my doctor when I had my physical this past July. He told me that I was officially middled age and that "even people who take care of themselves will some times die for no reason at 50."

Great, that's what I wanted to hear....serves me right for going to a doctor who just turned 40.

The cards I got were great also. One of them said that I shouldn't consider myself middle-aged at 50 as that was really at 35. Now there's a cheery thought.

I also went golfing one night about a week ago with my father riding in the cart beside me. We were in a three-some with Scott and his friend Jake. I had a pretty good golf game going and actually was beating Scott, until we reached the ninth hole and my dad told me in no uncertain terms that he needed to get home and use the bathroom right away. So we picked up my drive, waved goodbye to Scott and Jake and headed home.

Secretly, I was a littled miffed with dad, but the next day on the course, all was forgiven. I left dad at home as I didn't want his bowels interupting my golf game again. However, I must have had the revenge of Willis (similar to the revenge of Montezuma) as I was golfing with stomach cramps for the first five holes until I came upon the port-a-potties, which were simmering in the summer sunshine at a little over 150 degrees inside temperature. But beggers and crampers can't be picky.

Also at 50, I'm feeling like I know a lot more about life in general. I can see someone's face and feel as though I know their most inner thoughts. I really can't. Some people look happy when they're sad and vice versa. But that doesn't stop me from boring people I'm sitting with and telling them some made-up story about what other people may or may not actually be thinking.

Finally, I've decided that 50 is the "me" decade. I hope that Belinda and I can travel more and do the things that we like to do. We got this off to a good start by going to Medora this month and seeing the musical before heading to Roundup for the family reunion.

So here's to 50....and then 60, etc.