The Event ~ The Magnificent Seven August 2017

The picture above in 1968-1969 sharing watermelon on 3rd floor of the dorm.  The picture below we recreated sharing watermelon on the floor of the condo.

 

 It was summer 1968 ~ two weeks after high school graduation and I was off to college in Rapid City, South Dakota at the National College of Business.  I started college in the summer quarter.  Why would any sane high school graduate do that?  Turns out I wasn’t the only one who made that crazy decision.  Among the many summer students that arrived in early June, turns out there were six other crazy girls that showed up at NCB  to specialize in some sort of “secretary” career.  How we ever ended up a close tight-knit group of seven I have not a clue. But we did.  For 18-24 months we shared a special friendship bond. Penny, Carla, Ginger, Betty, Dianne, Carol and me. 

After graduation we all went our separate ways, got married, had 16 children among us (8 girls and 8 boys  - Ginger calculated that prior to meeting in Frisco), lost touch here and there.  But always one of the seven kept in touch with another of the seven, and another kept in touch with another. And we all managed to keep updated from one of us about one of us.  And then internet and email surfaced into our worlds and we kind of all reconnected again.    

In 2002, the seven of us gathered back in Rapid City for a reunion.  We picked up right where we left off.  And then kind of lost touch again here and there.  Then Facebook surfaced into our worlds and we all reconnected.   A year ago Penny suggested, through  Facebook, that we get together again. The responses flowed:  “I’m in!”   “I’m in!”  “I’m in”  x 7.  We did internet searches for a reunion location.  Finally, through an acquaintance of mine,  we found a great condo at a great price in Frisco, Colorado, and a date was set:  August 7-11, 2017. 

Front:  Dianne, Carla, Sandi.  Back:  Penny, Betty, Ginger, Carol

From left:  Dianne, Penny, Carla, Carol, Betty, Sandi, Ginger

Carol drove to Salt Lake City UT from Oregon to meet up with Carla, and they drove together  to Frisco.  Betty and Tom drove from Ida Grove Iowa to Scottsbluff.  Tom stayed the week in Scottsbluff on the farm with Tim.  Ginger drove down from Chadron to Scottsbluff, picked up Betty and I.  We drove to Denver, picked up Dianne at the airport, and then Penny at a hotel in Denver and the five of us drove together to Frisco.  (Penny met us at the hotel as she just finished a family reunion in nearby Fort Morgan.  How convenient was that??)

August 7 -11 has come and gone, but the memories will live on forever, as they have for the past 49 years.   We picked up right where we left off.  We spent lazy mornings around the breakfast table talking, laughing, crying, and sharing stories.  We spent relaxing evenings around the dinner table reminiscing through photo albums;  and relaxing in the living room sharing more stories and laughter and serious life adventures.   We never even got out for an “elegant” evening of dinner and fine wine!!

From left:  Penny, Sandi, Carol, Dianne, Ginger, Betty, Carla

From left: Ginger, Carol, Sandi, Penny, Betty, Carla, Dianne

Dianne and Betty - dorm roommates in 1968-1969

But we did do a lot of fun shopping late mornings, lunchs out at noon, and more fun in the afternoons. I think we may have gotten Miss Penny Pig hooked on second-hand shopping as she bought several clothing items in the 2^nd time around stores.  We especially enjoyed all shopping for hats for our special group picture.  

Took a lot of pictures, enjoyed a Thursday evening concert in the park, a Wednesday nite swim in the condo pool and hot tub, and a short jaunt to nearby Breckenridge for a gondola ride to the top of the mountain.  Betty and I were just gutsy enough to do the mile-long Alpine slide, similar to a winter toboggan or luge slide, only on wheeled carts on cement. 

Concert in the park ~Parsonfield Band!  Great music!

Betty and I ~ two brave souls to do the Alpine Ride

When Friday morning came, it was not easy to bid farewell.  I think we all felt we could just hang out more days.  We talked about meeting again in three years when we all turned 70, perhaps on the Oregon coast.  In the meantime, may God watch over each of us, our families and give us the spiritual faith and strength to grow older gracefully, in a healthy and fit manner till we meet again.  Love you all magnificent seven!

 

Updated:  January 2021.   We all received the news that our beloved Carol passed away in December.  We were shocked and saddened that we didn't get to say goodbye.  Rest in Peace Carol.  

Front: Dianne,Carla, Sandi.  Back: Penny, Betty, Ginger, Carol

The Event ~ Corneliusen Reunion 2017

Corneliusen Renion clan 2017, Lander Wyoming

We united in 1993 in West Yellowstone Montana.  Then not again until 2007 when I organized and hosted a reunion at Trails West along the Platte River in Scottsbluff.  100 Corneliusen family members were present.  We met again five years later in the Montana mountains west of Billings somewhere – I forget the name – when again another 100 family members attended.  Now, five years later July 27-30, 2017 we had another reunion West of Lander, Wyoming in the beautiful mountain setting.  

Only about 60 people traveled to this reunion, but 19 of them were Tim and I and our three kids and families.  So glad they all got the opportunity to attend.  We only missed Val who had to stay home to attend a VIP entrepreneur conference where he was the proud recipient of the “People’s Choice” award for his Life Assist product for the elderly.   We  missed you, but we are so proud of you Val in this achievement. 

My Mom and two brothers and families also came, so Mom’s family (including us) made the biggest appearance, but there were family members present from each of Dad’s siblings families.  

Mom (Great Grandma Esther) and Charlotte

Cash, Alexis, Janel

The Leonard/Esther Corneliusen clan.  From bottom left, Penny, Willa.2nd row far left, Jerrod, Josh, Ben, Mattie, Jon.  Next row Vern, TIm A, Janel holding Esther, Grandma Esther, Millie holding Wyatt, Joe holding Charlotte.  Next row, Alexis, Melinda, Lynn, Kelly.  Top row, Tim S, Cash, Annie, Sandi, Jakob, Kelly, Avery.

Grandma Esther and Jerrod

Melinda, Connie Diegel, Esther, Jerrod, Phyliss Barnick Griffith

 The reunion was a fun time.  The Lodge was cozy – it’s a good thing only 60 came, as the space was just right for only 60.  We enjoyed the food as always, the games,  the horseshoe tournament, won by Team Cash and Clint, the boating and fishing in the beautiful lake. 

Horseshoe winners ~ Clint and Cash

 

Willa is excited to fish!

Best friends ~ Penny and Willa

Joe, Penny, Willa

 

 It was good to see some of the third and fourth generation cousins get acquainted. That’s what reunions are for, to reunite families in a fun filled fellowship.  Hope to do this again in five years – 1922.

The Event ~ Travel with Toddler and Twins to Texas!

Cash and Annie mentioned early in 2017 that they were going to take their family on a road trip vacation to Waco Texas, San Antonio and  followed by a concert in Fort Worth Texas.  Why Waco?  That’s the new tourist hub made famous by the reality tv show “Fixer Upper” with Chip and Joanna Gaines.  We all enjoyed watching that show for the last four years.  After reading their book, “The Magnolia Story” we all decided it would be a fun place to visit.  So when I heard they were going to Waco, I asked to go along “to help with the kids”,  3-year old Penny, and 1-year old twins Charlotte and Wyatt.  So they graciously let me accompany them on their road trip. 

 

 

It was an incredible time together, a great opportunity to bond with the kids.  We packed food for a couple picnic lunches and stopped in parks along the way to eat and let the kids play.  We stayed two nites in a really nice airbnb home in San Antonio, took the river boat ride in San Antonio,

 We visited The Alamo.  I had an ice cream date with Penny.  We visited Magnolia and the silos made famous from the tv show "Fixer Upper".

 We stayed one nite near Ft Worth with a family whom the mom was a floor sister to Cash during Moody College days.  So it was fun for them to reconnect and the kids had fun with their kids. Cash and Annie were able to go out two different nites while I stayed with the kids.  On the way home, we enjoyed a meal at a Texas Roadhouse, and a stop at a small water park.

Maybe they will take me on another road trip with them sometime.  

A beautiful plant near Waco, Texas

             
 

The Event ~ Christmas on the Mississippi!

Christmas 2016.  This Christmas, none of the kids were coming home.  This was the year for them to go to the other side of the families.  We are on an every other year cycle for family Christmas gatherings.

So Tim and I decided to do something different ~ just the two of us.  A few years ago Tim mentioned that he would like to cruise the Mississippi River.  The American Queen Riverboat Cruise brochure came in the mail with discounted rates for the Christmas season.  It didn’t take me long to reserve our spot on the river cruise from New Orleans Louisiana to Memphis Tennessee. For seven days December 20 – 26.

Airline reservations were made for an extra day on each end so we could tour New Orleans at the beginning and Memphis and Elvis Presley’s Graceland at the end.  The relaxing cruise was exceptional.  The weather was perfect – no jackets needed, and the river so calm.  The civil war history along the river was interesting, as was the Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn story, and the beautiful plantations along the way.  

We did short bus tours through little towns along the way.  One toy museum had a couple dolls that looked so real and lifelike and looked like Penny.

 We visited Civil War museums, the original Coke museum, a distillery, and other places of interest.

 

This is a river cruise I could easily repeat, but would like to do the Columbia River  through Washington and Idaho states, and also the Northern half of the Mississippi.

 I thought the above picture was very interesting out our airplane window, flying over the Midwest crop lands in winter time.  Fields of snow and bare fields created a very beautiful real estate quilt.

The Event ~ Retirement

It just seemed right.  The decision came abruptly with no forethought and a year in advance.  It was a long year - at the office.  I never faltered from the original decisive plan of retiring the end of 2016.  Except I delayed it until the end of January 2017.  Why?  Because of the excessive, unusual, once-a-year projects that needed to be tended to through the new year transition and month of January.  And since I loved my job, and was dedicated to making sure the January projects were given proper training, I was willing to go one more month. 

Then the question people ask:  “If I loved my job (and a good-paying one at that),  and was so dedicated, why am I leaving it to enter into a hum-drum life of retirement?” First, get this straight:  I have no intention of moving into a hum-drum life.   I have plans.  God has plans for me. I am confident,  without a doubt that God nudged me to this retirement thing –  the decision came so quickly, and with no anxiety, no regret, no wondering, no forethought.   And without even consulting my husband,  (although I do remember about two years earlier he insisted I could quit anytime I wanted to!)I just announced it to him!  That's gutsy!

ALSO,  why wait until I do not have the energy to do what I want to do.  Why spend any more time at someone else’s office while deeply desiring to enjoy life in ways I want to.  At 66 I still have some energy left to actually get out and enjoy life.  It’s not about the money.  I have planned well and wisely through the years – yes, albeit conservatively.  But that’s me, and I can comfortably enjoy retirement. 

I am now ready to NOT walk away from the morning sunbeams streaming into my living room windows, but instead capture the winter and spring sunbeams floating through my house – soak them up in the quiet with Bible or other inspirational reading in hand, and a cup of coffee.  Enjoy tea on the front porch instead of whisking away from my castle to yet another day at a hum-drum office.

I am ready to accompany my husband and spend time with him on little trips to town, or share coffee with him in the morning – along with a fresh baked goodie from my oven – again basking in the sun streaming through my kitchen window.  And I want to spend time with him helping him in the field during haying season.  I already have done some baling, but I am confident he can teach me to run the swather.  Not all the time – but occasionally, being there when he needs the help.  I look forward to working side by side with him, like we used to do before I went to work in town 30 years ago.  I especially savor the opportunities to have more lunch or dinner dates in the field during hay harvest.  There is just something so special about meeting your man in the field! 

I already have four quilt projects waiting to be started, and what a joy it will be to be able to work on them throughout the days, instead of just quick stitches whenever I could grab an extra 30 minutes before or after a long work day at a hum-drum office (which I loved, by the way, but am so ready to part with.  Did I say that already?)  Oh, only four projects?  I know that doesn’t sound like much at all to most avid quilters, but I’m not one to get too much ahead of myself.  (except when it came to giving retirement notice a year in advance!)

Oh my gosh – the grandchildren!  Nine in Lincoln, and three in Denver.  No longer do I have to make a quick weekend trip, hurrying home on Sunday so I can appear at work on Monday, away from my sanctuary.  It is not too late, with five babies still two and under, I will have lots of time for them to come spend weeks with me.  I will be home to take them to the park, share a tea party, build tents, bake cookies, read books, teach the girls to sew. . . .   We have always enjoyed having one grandchild at a time with us for a week or two, from the time they were each like two years old.  But for the most part they would have to spend their days with Tim, while I scurried off to the office. Sometimes I would manage a day or two of vacation while they were here, but then it was back to the office.   I did actually find a little time to teach Mathilda to sew a few years ago when she was here for a couple weeks.  No more.  My time is their time now when they come!

 

I have barely had time to browse this thing called Pinterest.  But I understand there are all sorts of creative ideas to get the creative juices flowing.  I have three or four refinishing projects waiting for me in the garage when warm weather arrives, and can’t wait to get them repurposed.  There is at least one room in my house screaming “paint me”!  And it is time consuming just visiting the paint departments for samples and picking out just the right color!

Oh, then I will engage myself more in something I’ve dabbled with in the past – I will be my own travel planner.  There is a big USA out there to explore, places to go – things to see.  Mostly road trips.  And sporting event trips to Lincoln. On my list:  Minnesota, Wisconsin, Grand Canyon, Ohio Amish country, Niagara Falls and Canada (to see a friend we met on our cruise in 2011), the Northwest Oregon & Washington, and possibly Hawaii; and outside the USA: Costa Rica, and Norway.  Starting with a jaunt to California to visit Alexis and Val and do a road short road trip with Alexis, and walk the beach with her.  I have always loved the ocean, and have fond memories of other beach visits.  Then  a “Magnificent Seven” reunion in Frisco, Colorado the first week in August 2017, when seven best college girlfriends from 1970 meet together for a magnificent seven crazy grandmother’s reunion. Will that be a blast from the past?  Also maybe more opportunity to make a trip to Montana to visit my mom.

In my retirement down time, I hope to do more reading.  I haven’t been much of a reader the last 20 years, but I have a bookshelf full of books I would love to open and immerse myself in.  I’m not into the kindle book thing yet, because I think I like the old-fashioned “hold-a-real-book-in-the-hand” concept!

Oops, not to forget, and it’s definitely not last on my list, but I will attend a weekly day-time Bible study with other sisters-in-Christ.  Something I used to do 30-40 years ago, but haven’t been able to participate in while a “career woman”!  And I even hope to offer some volunteer efforts -- in time.  Don’t want to jump from one have-to commitment (the office) to another commitment too rapidly.  One friend already advised to not be afraid to say “no” as requests may swarm me to do this or that as soon as I am no longer “working.”

Perhaps I can do a better job gardening.  I definitely don’t want to do any more canning or freezing than what I have done in the past few years, but maybe I can take better care of the garden and flowers that I do plant.  I do not have a green thumb and gardening and flower beds are very difficult for me and I have not enjoyed this activity trying to do it a few minutes in the mornings before work or a few minutes after a long day at the office.  So maybe now I can put on those gardening gloves and at least be a bit more successful.

I am looking forward to meeting up with friends during the day for coffee or lunch, or just hanging out.  I have always enjoyed sharing meals around my dining room table, and now I hope to have more time to do that.  Also, I have wonderful in-laws that live a mile down the road.  They are 89 and 93 and still live in their own house.  They are showing  early and progressive signs of dementia, and I hope to be able to a little more for them while they are still alive. 

Oh dear, I think I may be really, really busy in this new retired life.