Mitchell Emmitt Conant

Mitchell has been growing up so fast. Here he is at just about a month old with his little lamb. Here he's a couple of months old. He started to be more animated and smile when you talked to him. Getting cuter everyday. Papa Terry and Nanawiki love him. He's so cute and lovable. At three months he keeps changing every time we see him. He's daddy's little man. And momma's little firecracker. He's a super dresser and very colorful. He's rolling over now at 5 months and making lots of noises. He's also a big Sooner fan. GO BIG RED!!! He's eating fruits and vegetables and growing big and strong. Recently at almost 6 months old he's been backpacking in the Colorado Rockies He's getting ready to go trick or treating on Halloween and has been trying on various costumes to see which one he likes best. Nanawiki votes for him being a little monkey because she is bananas about him.

Fall Carnival

Friday night I joined my Eric, Sarah, my grand boys and Lauren, a friend, at the Fall Carnival at Jared's school. It was very busy with lots of people playing games and milling around. When you first came into the gym there was a climbing wall. Jared got right on it working his way to the top. After that we made our way around the gym playing games like bowling with a pumpkin, Slinko, ball toss among many others. There was pizza, nachos and soft drinks for sale along with popcorn and candy. I ran into a former co-worker from Hefner Middle School and visited about our grandkids who happened to be friends. About that time one of Jared's friend paid money to have him taken to jail. The cowboy tied a rope around his wrist and took him into a corral where he had to stay until he was bailed out. He eventually got out on good behavior. After that we went outside on the playground where they had a cakewalk, an air bouncer and lots of other games and of course the playground equipment.
Jared and Jordyn got to decorate some mini pumpkins and later Jordyn did his own share of climbing on the monkey bars. Eric got into the act by trying to climb the wall.
Lauren and Jacob spent time hanging out with friends and seeing former teachers. Lauren got her face painted and later while having dinner at Braums a little girl thought she was a kitty cat. :) Jacob tried his best to have a good time in spite of the fact that it was a kids carnival. Sarah cheesed it up in the pics and then we headed home. I had a great time just hanging with my boys and my kids.

40 Years after high school

Last night I attended my 40th high school class reunion. It reminded me of how I'm getting older and hopefully wiser. Everyone was friendly and some people sat and talked with me like we were old friends. I think that happens as people get older. They want to explain about who they are and perhaps why they were the way they were in high school. High school wasn't a great experience for me. When I go to reunions I don't necessarily see people I hung out with. Having moved to Guthrie in 1968, in my junior year, it was hard to break into cliques of students who had grown up together since Kindergarten. The culture of the school was more diverse than where I had come from in Lawrence, Kansas with a population that was about 10% black to a population that was about 40% black. There was tension and some of the black students weren't any friendlier than the whites. I realized now, many years later, that in 1967 the blacks were forced to leave their high school and integrate with the white kids at the new high school so there was a lot of tension.
Every time I go I get new insights into the lives of the people who, at the time, seemed to have it altogether. In previous reunions some of the black students would come and visit with the white students and then leave to have their own party. This year, however, was the first year everyone stayed together. They hugged each other, shared stories and their lives. For me the experience helped me to understand how people change or maybe how my perception changes over the years.
One of my classmates apologized to me for having not been very nice to me in high school. I was both surprised and endeared that after all these years she had the courage to express her feelings and ask my forgiveness. I did remember her not being very friendly and sometimes saying things that were hurtful but all the pain of that was long gone. It was ironic, however, that another student who I remember not being very nice to me at high school, i.e. vandalizing my yearbook by scratching out a picture of a classmate she didn't like and then again refusing to speak to me at our first reunion, was now friendly and acted like we had been friends forever. I believe that she either didn't have a recollection of it or was too embarrassed to mention it. Either way I let bygones be bygones and just spent time getting to know who she is now. One thing I have learned from all of this is that people perceive you differently than you perceive yourself and the things that you thought were important are things they don't even remember. So why do I go? Probably to have some better understanding of myself and of those whom, at the time, seemed so important to me. I hope that in the end I'm better for it.

Comfortable Things

I had the best experience today in a gift shop in town. The proprietor, Kaye, was a sweet middle aged woman whose dress was still in the 80's but still fit in with her surroundings. The gift shop was full of wonderful knick-knacks, notes, food, seasonal decorations, candy and lovely aromas. I was there getting some chocolates for my friend Liz and was also looking to find a gift for my Aunt Louise. I wandered around the shop examining cute notepads, fancy boxes of cookies and candles while Kaye waited on a couple getting a gift for his mother. Kaye got a phone call from her sister which from my side of the conversation smacked of "mothering". She got off the phone saying "my sister still bosses me around" with a warm smile on her face. Evidently, there was a storm brewing and she wanted Kaye to make sure her new car wasn't going to be damaged. She asked me if she could help me and I told her I needed a box to buy 50 Bedre chocolates. She said she would box them up for me and that they were sold by the pound. When she brought them to the counter she counted them again and she had exactly 50. She still put one in for good measure. She started to ring up my sale and asked me if I had a punch card to earn $10 on future purchases. I couldn't find it if I did have one and I told her I had been in her shop last year buying chocolates and gifts for a conference. She insisted on giving me $50 in punches for my last visit insisting that she had probably forgotten to give me a card with my previous purchase. Her demeanor was so sweet and so genuine. I tried to imagine what it might be like to have a shop and have people come in everyday to buy things they enjoyed. It seemed like the perfect job. Although I love my job hers seemed less stressful. We visited a little more, me telling her about my uncle dying and the trip I was making to Kansas to say goodbye and her telling me who she knew who was graduation from my school in December. A nice conversation on a nice afternoon. Such an enjoyable experience that I hope to partake of again.

Swimming

I had to backwash about 1,000 gallons of water from the pool today as a result of the 10 inches of rain we received here yesterday. Lots of people came to swim this afternoon and seemed to enjoy themselves even though the water was a bit too chilly for me. Jared had a t-ball game this evening and wasn't allowed to swim. I tried to talk Eric into just this once telling him Jared wasn't going to be in the World Series but he still said no. Jared was so upset it was hard for me to watch but he got over it by playing Wii with Ryan Ellis, a Master's Commission student who is staying with us. The boys really enjoy Ryan and Levi Lamy another MC.

Grandboys

This evening Jared and Jordyn came over for dinner. I hadn't seen them in a week and was going through withdrawal ;). They're always so full of energy and both had to go play with Molly and Chloe. Then Jared and I played a little Wii gokart and beach volleyball. He can't handle losing and so every time I would get ahead, he would stop the game. He's getting ready to play t-ball this spring. It'll be interesting to see how he handles playing with people his own age and size. I'm looking forward to going to his games and seeing him in that cute baseball uniform, hitting the ball and running the bases. To round out the evening, I fixed spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner and watched Planet of the Apes with Mark Wahlberg. The boys liked the movie because of the monkeys and fighting. A great time was had by all.