Growing up on a farm can be lonely. You could sit on the tractor for hours by yourself. I knew the words to every song on every radio station – we only had like two actually – classic rock and classic country. Feeding and taking care of animals alone – you find yourself talking to them. Pigs, cows, dogs, they are all pretty good listeners but they don’t give great advice. It’s a solitary life. One particular place on the farm that was lonely and terrifying was our basement. Now I’m not even really sure you could call it a basement. It was under the house but this wasn’t your typical suburban basement where you entertain with a wet bar and plasma TV. This was a basement from a Steven King novel. There were two ways to get there. First, you could get there from the house by going through a small door just off our living room. From there, you’d pull a string to turn on a light and make your way down some dark and creaky stairs. Or, from the outside of the house, you had to open a “Wizard of Oz” type cellar door that you pull up. That led you down some equally creepy concrete stairs through a crooked wooden door in the house’s foundation. Now the fun is just beginning, once you got in, you were struck by the smell of mildew and you were overwhelmed by darkness – not a quiet and peaceful darkness so much as an unexplained darkness. There were some tiny windows on two walls but for some reason, no light came in. I think the light was scared. The one similarity to typical suburban basements was all the mechanicals like the furnace and water heater and affiliated pipes but they were hidden in the shadows or by the shadows. Behind the furnace was a small room that I never went in. I think it used to hold coal or something but it may also have been the way to Hades. So, you get the picture, not a fun place to have sleepovers or play ping pong. You would think this would be a place that you could avoid if it creeped you out right? You could never go there unless you had your dog or pig with you, you know someone to talk to. Ironically, this basement was where my parents sent me to keep me safe from severe thunderstorms and tornadoes – alone. I wonder if that’s why I hate thunderstorms and tornadoes so much? You think?
Tag Archives: #yourturnchallenge
Small town service
I pulled into Smith’s Sudden Service in my home town on a cold Monday morning. My car had been sitting in my mom’s garage for two months because I was driving my dad’s truck. It felt good to drive an F-150 down in the city. I sat up high, listened to country music, got 10 mpg – and I missed my dad and sometimes it felt like he was sitting next to me. So, after two months of inactivity, my right front tire was flat. Or, actually it wasn’t so much flat as it just wasn’t full anymore and I had to drive four hours on icy roads in subzero temps to get back to civilization so I thought I should get it checked out. So, I found myself parking my bright red Nissan in front of the station and walking in to look for Ron. A bell rang as I opened the door, not an electronic bell but an actual bell that was hanging above the door. Coming in out of the cold, I felt 4 pairs of eyes on me. The room was thick with smoke and smelled like oil. George Strait was on the radio. I recognized Ron, the owner, because I’d been in there with my dad, but he had no idea who I was. The other three characters must have been regulars. They were standing around, smoking and drinking Ron’s coffee. “Good morning,” I said tentatively because it wasn’t and I was nervous. “What can I do for you?” asked Ron in response as his regulars sized me up. I could almost hear their thoughts, “foreign car – can’t put air in his own tires – wearing a girl’s coat (North Face) – dress pants (J Crew) – and shoes with no laces (Cole Haan)” I broke through the stereotypes with “I’m Steve, my brother called about my tire.” “Oh yeah,” said Ron, “I was sorry to hear about your dad” and then he said, “I can get it in right now.” So, Ron left me with the regulars who continued to stand and smoke. Finally Ron came back after what seemed like an hour (about a minute). Just as he did, a regular’s phone rang and everyone said “You got Al” and laughed. Al waited for them to be done and flipped open his phone and answered, “You got Al.” Ron told me it would just be a few minutes for them to pull the tire off and check it out and then he handed me a cup of coffee saying it was the best in town. When he left again to check on my tire, one of the guys whispered that the coffee wasn’t good at all but it was hot and free. I laughed. My dad would have stayed there all morning.
State of the union?
Did you watch the state of the union speech by President Obama last night? I didn’t but not because I was watching something else, I just chose to spend the hour with my family instead. I did some research and read about it today from a couple of news sources and even though I am a little reluctant to feature politics in my blog but I have some thoughts.
First, I received a very interesting e-mail from the White House yesterday – take a look at a screen shot of the e-mail here. I have to admit that I have written to the President before. I’m one of “those people” who takes democracy pretty seriously and I’ve been inspired to contact government officials at every level to share my perspective. Have I heard back? Not always, but the closer the branch of government is, the more likely they are to get in touch with you. I think it makes a difference. So, when I saw that a “3M” – not the company, but a “Minnesota Middle-class Mom” was going to be in the First Lady’s box last night, I thought it was great. The President read her letter and came to Minneapolis to buy her lunch and invited her to Washington D.C. so he could use her story. It’s all good theater right? I just wish he’d done a better job staying engaged with “us” all along. He and his campaign team did a great job of getting people energized and involved during his first campaign but to tell you the truth, this is the first e-mail I’ve ever received from him. I think he’s missed a huge opportunity.
I also wanted to share Matt Bai’s article from Yahoo. You can read his entire piece from today here: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-declares-victory–way-too-late-043549344.html. There is one quote from Matt that deserves to be repeated in my mind.
“He’s gone on talking mostly about economic suffering and inequality, at a time when the broad base of the country might well have responded to a more hopeful message — especially from the guy who used “hope” as his campaign slogan…He missed the chance to say, “Guess what? Things are actually getting a lot better now. You’re welcome. But we still face a serious crisis for your kids not too far down the line, and that’s what I want to focus on next.”
So, whatever you think about this President, I think his time in office will be judged by huge swings of emotion – excitement of his election and what it meant to the country to the economic and foreign policy crises that had his approval rating at all time lows. It’s a tough job however you look at it but I think he could have been more connected to us – I think it would have made a difference for how I feel about the state of the union.
Here’s to comebacks
Have you been watching football lately? There have been some great comeback wins. We like comeback stories and I wanted to highlight a couple of recent football examples.
First, I’d like to highlight the North Dakota State University Bison from Fargo, North Dakota. On January 10, the Bison capped a great game with a last second comeback touchdown for the national championship. That would make a great story all on its own right? That’s not the whole story though, this was their fourth national championship in a row. Actually, the senior class on this team had a record of 58-3, amassing more national championships than losses during their playing careers. A feat never equaled at NCAA Division 1 football. After the game, first year head coach, Chris Klieman, said “With our guys, I never saw any doubt in their mind.” That’s amazing right – no doubt in their mind.
The other comeback was from yesterday in the NFC Championship. I have a Seahawks fan in my house who stopped watching the game in the second quarter and being a lifelong Minnesotan, I wasn’t pleased with the Packers’ dominance at the beginning of the game either. For 56 minutes, it looked like Seattle’s season was going to be over. But, after a late touchdown, onside kick recovery, another touchdown and two point conversion, Seattle was ahead for the first time in the game. The Packers came back to tie and send the game into overtime but Seattle scored on its first possession when Russell Wilson hit Jermaine Kearse for an amazing touchdown – his only catch of the day. Doug Baldwin, another Seattle wide receiver, summed it up this way, “As a true competitor, you can’t have any doubt…we believed that we were going to find a way to pull it out. And obviously we did that.”
I find it amazing that neither team had any doubt. I had doubts watching these games and I have doubts about my own abilities all the time, it’s human nature right? What enables people to overcome doubt? I suppose for a team you need to have trust in each other, solid coaching, and a great game plan. What about for you, how do you overcome doubt? A positive attitude, a support system that encourages you, what else? Here’s to never having any doubt – that’s one story coming out of football that I like.
The view from the suburbs 