So quickly...it was over

I have never experienced anything like it. You know that iconic photo of the sailor being hugged in Times Square after World War 2? That lucky guy must have felt like me at the Denver airport on Friday afternoon. Belinda, Grandpa and I had walked off the plane and were stumbling through the big airport looking for baggage claim. Suddenly, it felt like I was being tackled. Someone or something had grabbed me around the knees and wasn't letting go. When I looked down, there was my four year-old grandnephew Joshua Baker holding onto me with the biggest, widest grin on his face. "Unka Steeeeeve." 

We had arrived for a short three-day weekend in Aurora, Colorado, and Joshua came with his dad to take us to their home. The flight had been uneventful, even pleasant. I say that because flying for 80 minutes beats the heck out of driving for 15 hours. 

The only downfall of the flight involved dad getting a "patdown" by a TSA officer at the Bismarck airport. Ninety-one-year-old men don't like to be touched -- period -- yet be touched by a 25-year-old guy who they don't know in a strange place (I'm not talking about the airport). Dad looked at me with a quizzical expression. I think a couple more "pats" and dad would have floored the guy. (The TSA screening in Denver on the return flight went a lot better because they had a machine that x-rayed dad for any guns or other contraband.)

Our trip to the Baker residence was a ride in the family van listening to kid's tunes on the stereo. There was a song that seemed to fit Joshua to a "T." It was something about "me and my energy." Who ever wrote that song either knew Joshua personally or knew a boy who was identical to Joshua. 

After arriving, we enjoyed a delicious barbecued meal of vegetables, beef and chicken. I think all of them were cooked with a different seasoning or marinade, but they were all delicious. We sat outside on their deck to eat and visit. Nothing like living it up in warm temperatures when the family you left back home is freezing on Memorial Day. Our family in Montana even had to suffer through snow. 

When we went to bed, what I worried about most came to pass. Dad was "nervous from the service" so I gave him a couple of Benadryl with a sip of water. He fell asleep and didn't wake up until 2 a.m.....what, 2 a.m.? Yes, you read right. And he had to go to the bathroom at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., 5 a.m. and was up for good at 6 a.m. 

The next night we tried something stronger...Tylenol PM. Again he slept like a log until 3 a.m.! And then he was up every hour going to the bathroom just like the night before. On the third night, I thought things would be different. After all, he hadn't slept well for two nights and didn't take a nap during the days either. So I thought he could go to bed without any pills. Nothing doing. Within minutes, he was up and going to the bathroom again. So I gave him two Tylenol PM and he slept from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. This was truly a blessing, because I got to sleep as well. 

Other than that, we ate like kings. On Saturday for lunch we ate a rib's place, the food was delicious. There was also a lot of it. For dinner on Saturday, we were treated again to Luke's delectable barbecue skills -- this time it was burgers and roasted ears of corn on the gas grill. The corn on the cob tasted so sweet. 

On Sunday, we went to church -- across the alley from their house -- and heard Luke preach. I believe that Luke was born to preach. He can stir up your blood with a good sermon. There were only two people in the church that weren't mesmerized by his preaching -- one was his son Joshua who threw a pencil that whizzed past the head of the person sitting in front of him, and the other was my dad who kept looking at watch. As the time approached noon -- which is dad's time to eat lunch -- Luke made an altar call for the unsaved souls in the church. It was at that moment that dad uttered a common barnyard phrase that I'll euphemistically translate as "Oh, Nuts!" Again, the only people who heard it were the in-laws of the man who earlier had seen the pencil fly by. 

So, the lesson learned, is never sit in front of Joshua and his great-grandparent if it appears the sermon is going to run long. Before I leave the preaching completely, I want to give Luke credit for something he said that was an outstanding analogy. He said, "Church is like an airport. Just as an airport isn't your destination, neither is church. An airport --like a church -- helps you reach your final destination." I told Luke later, "That'll preach." It did. 

Other than that, we had a great time. Mary makes the best raspberry, white chocolate scones for breakfast. Their other son, Jonas, could become quite a rodeo rider. I would bounce him on my knees until both of them would hurt from arthritis, and then he would come to me and say with all the sincerity that a one-year-old can muster "Down", which of course meant "Up." He was ready to ride into the sunset. While he was bouncing, I would sing the tune to "Bonanza!"

And I would bounce him on my knees some more. 

We had a great time. It was filled with fun, adventure, great food (don't get me started on the potluck after church on Sunday - the food went on forever) and lots of great family time. All in all, it was a memorable Memorial Day weekend.  

Let the Memorial Day adventure begin

Tomorrow, Belinda, Grandpa and I are going to step out of our comfort zone. We're going to fly to Denver to visit my niece Mary, her husband Luke and their two young sons Joshua and Jonas.

The idea of flying to Denver intrigued me when I learned that Frontier Airlines flew non-stop between Bismarck and Denver and didn't charge an arm and a leg to do it. Mary and her family moved to Denver in February, so we now had a reason to do it.

The Colorado Rockies aren't playing at home over the Memorial Day weekend, so no one can think that I'm really using my niece as an excuse to see a professional baseball game -- although the thought did cross my mind.

Belinda and I have both been to Denver before but not as a couple. Both of us went before we were married....and we didn't travel together. When I went, I was working for Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative and I traveled to Aurora to learn how to use a Compugraphic typesetter. It might as well have been a lead-based Linotype machine, because both of them have long been put out to pasture and probably can only be seen today in museums.

Anyway, my hotel was right beside the training center so I didn't see a lot of Denver, but I do remember that the traffic was terrible, there was a street named after Martin Luther King, and airport was a mess....but that was more than 25 years ago. I can only imagine that Denver has grown up since 1984, has a new airport and the traffic is probably even worse today.

However, we won't have to go to Denver...unless Luke or Mary are driving. We will land at the airport that is east of Denver and go to the Baker residence, that is also east of Denver.

Now Belinda and I like to fly so the trip is not out of our comfort zone. It is, however, for Grandpa Van Dyke. Although he traveled by plane during World War 2 in India, Pakistan and Burma when he was in the Army Air Corps, he didn't do a lot of flying when he was a civilian. I remember he flew to Houston once when he was employed with Continental Pipeline Company. I think they wanted him to move his family to Houston, but dad was too close to retirement and wanted to stay in Montana.

He also flew from Roundup to Mandan in a single engine aircraft when he moved to North Dakota in July 2006. This flight was mostly so he wouldn't get out of the car and try to head back to Roundup when we were somewhere around Miles City or Glenidve. It seemed safer that he would stay in the airplane than he would in a car. Plus, the trip was an hour and a half by airplane and it was six hours by car.

So dad will be flying and earning his wings once again. I think that it shouldn't be much of a problem as he only has to sit on the plane for 90 minutes between Bismarck and Denver. If they serve us a cold pop and a bag of peanuts, it takes almost 90 minutes for the flight attendants to serve everyone on the plane and pick up the trash.

My next worry is dad sleeping in a different house. Dad seems to get nervous when he's not sleeping in his own bed, and if he doesn't sleep, I don't sleep. My "cure" for this is a couple of Benadryl. They seem to put him to sleep, and once a sleep, he rests for a long time.

So tomorrow will begin an adventure. Hopefully, everything goes according to Hoyle and we all enjoy our Memorial Day vacation.