By Steve Weisman
It’s amazing how fast a generation can pass. When we are young, it seems that time sometimes stands still. Seconds crawl by like hours, and we think an event a month away is forever. A year, well a year is light years away. However, as we age, those notions begin to leave us. By the time we are middle age, we are telling our children to “not wish your life away by wanting time to go by more quickly!” We also begin to see those mentors (parents, aunts and uncles, and other adults) that we have looked up to begin to die. That’s when it strikes us: just how quickly a generation can pass.
At age 76, more than ever I feel my frailty and that time is growing short. This has given me a chance to reflect back on my upbringing on the farm near Tulare, a typical small town in north central South Dakota. Yes, there were farm chores and crops to harvest, and, of course, I got to experience some of the best pheasant hunting in the country, even if I was the “kid retriever and pheasant carrier”. But that didn’t matter, because I was walking with the neighborhood farmers, who to this day are some of the best shots I’ve ever seen. And my dad introduced me to duck and snow goose hunting on our farm pond used for cattle water.
Finally, my folks, at least once a week when I was a grade schooler, would take me down to Turtle Creek, and I’d throw out a bobber and a gob of worm hoping to catch a bullhead. My dad, to my chagrin, always seemed to catch that much hoped-for carp! With a bucket full of bullheads, home we would go, and the folks would clean the fish. Then my mom would make the best, and I mean best, crisp fried bullheads for supper.
As I moved toward high school, my dad and uncle Frank would take me to Twin Lakes, Cottonwood Lake and the James River Dam where the target became bass, northern pike and walleyes.
Childhood friends
Best of all, I had some distant cousins, the Schultze kids, who lived 2-3 miles away, and our parents were good friends. When they would visit back and forth, the Schultze kids and I would get together. The most anticipated date would be in early June, when my dad would mow the alfalfa field behind our house, rake it and then put it into a haystack. THAT became OUR ballpark for at least two weeks. We would take some old disc blades and use them for our bases and home plate.
Then it was game on. The longer the folks visited, the longer our game would last. Of course, a pitcher of lemonade and my mom’s cookies always were an excuse for a mid-inning break. When the alfalfa grew too tall again, we could head to the Schultze farm and play there. We’d often get up to three cuttings of alfalfa, so we’d be back at least two more times each summer.
Just like the movie, Sandlot, as we grew older and moved toward high school, the baseball games ended, and by 1966, I had graduated and moved on; Pat graduated in 1967; Judy graduated in 1968; Bob graduated in 1970; Bill graduated in 1972; Doug graduated in 1974; the two tag-alongs, Jim and Jean graduated in 1977 and 1978, respectively.
We all moved on to our adult lives, careers, raising kids and then grandkids. We kept in touch via Christmas letters and in recent years via Facebook. The Schultze kids got together, but I never saw them as a group after 1978. That’s 46 years! Sadly, during that time Bob passed away at age 55 with cancer, and there have been other spousal tragedies.
June 8, 2024
That’s the day that this all changed! You see, the Schultze kids were getting together at Lake Hendricks (near Hendricks, MN), where Bill and his wife, Cindy have lived for nearly 10 years! So, on that Saturday, my wife Darial and I drove were invited to Lake Hendricks where we met the kids I used to play with as a child. Certainly, there was a little apprehension with the passage of so many years.
Never mind that we now ranged from 63 to 76 years of age. The smiles, the hugs said it all: Father Time, you can age us, but we’re still kids at heart! In the over four hours of our stay, there was never a moment of silence. I learned that these now “old” Schultze kids had these adult get-to-gethers every year WiTHOUT any of their children and grandchildren. After all they have over 80 in the family, and they want some “old folks’ peace, time and quiet!” Then later the entire family rebellion takes place.
Yes, there was joking, laughter about yester-year and today, and also reminiscence of those who had passed before us.
Talk about memory lane for me, and also my wife, Darial who is now 73, and grew up in nearby Redfield, SD, where her dad was a family physician and the lead doctor at the local clinic and hospital. As a matter of fact, after he retired, he and my mother-in-law would walk every day at the Redfield Armory with Harold and Winnie, parents of the Schultze kids. They became extremely good friends and had coffee every morning at Leo’s Good Food in Redfield.
Yes, on that Saturday, we came from near and far away: from Texas (1), Iowa (1), South Dakota (3), Minnesota (3). We had raised our kids over the past 50+ years, and here we were together again! Yes, life is a journey, and are fortunate to be able to share our lives with each other. Yes, we know that time is growing short, but that’s the way life is.
So, what’s next?
A lot, I hope! We don’t want things to end yet! We want to continue the fun we had on that Saturday. Here are my personal thoughts…first off, for all of us (and you who are reading this), I must reference Jimmy Valvano, the North Carolina State basketball coach, who (though he eventually succumbed to cancer at age 47 in 1973) fought so valiantly to live life to the very end. His words will always ring in my ears. First off, he said, “You need to have a dream, a goal and you must be willing to work hard. Conceive the inconceivable!”
Another Valvano quote, “To me, there are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think-spend some time in thought. Number three you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day!”
Finally, he said, as he battled terminal cancer, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up!”
I know; I know…enough is enough…so I end with this. No matter your age, no matter your walk in life, give life your best shot, and be the best that you can be! Finally, take time to smell the roses! I hope you all have that wonderful opportunity to continue relationships with all of your family!
(L to R) Judy, Jim, Jean, Pat, Doug, (Steve, the author) and Bill.
The Schultze family and their spouses, (including Bob’s wife) and the author and his wife, Darial.
(L to R) Darial and the author look at the extended family history that Judy has spent countless hours putting together.
