I was asked last winter to be a featured speaker at WLHS’s 114th annual alumni gathering, to which I happily accepted and promptly arranged a trip back to South Dakota. I could have just zipped up for the weekend by myself and come back after a few days, but figured it might be a good chance to bring a kid along and save some money by keeping them out of an expensive summer camp for a week. Since John always gets to spend a lot of time on the farm every summer, I decided I’d take Edie and make it an extended stay—arriving on May 22 and hanging out until the 30th. So, at 3am on the 22nd, Edie and I arrived at the Austin airport and flew to Minneapolis where we had a 3.5-hour layover before our flight to Aberdeen. Both flights were on-time, and Mom was there to pick us up.

The big day of Alumni was the 23rd. I had long ago prepared my speech and had rehearsed it for small groups of friends a couple times. I felt pretty good about the speech and hoped it would deliver some laughs while evoking some fond memories to classes of all ages. Unlike when I have to speak to the company at work, I had no nerves whatsoever (maybe because I had had a few drinks beforehand). The 10-minute speech went perfectly. The delivery was perfect. It got laughs everywhere I was hoping. It was among the best public speaking performances of my life! The rest of the night was spent mingling with fellow alums at the dance and getting many congratulations on the speech.

Then it was time to chill on the farm for a week. I was still on the clock for work, so we mostly stuck to the house, but there was a quick trip to Watertown to visit Chris Walsh at his family cabin, and a trip to Huron to take Edie and cousins to the beach for some mini golf and paddleboats. Another day we swung into Willow Lake for some ice cream, and the family went out to dinner in Huron on the last night, with Alex, Ann and I sticking around for karaoke at The Sportsman’s. Edie mostly hung out with Adrienne and Auden, and got in some time with little cousins Jack and Betty while they were visiting. When she wasn’t with the cousins, she was glued to her school Chromebook which she was allowed to keep for the summer.

I really had hoped this trip would be good for Edie, who had been struggling with regulating her emotions for so long leading up to the end of the school year. If she gets cold, for instance, she doesn’t know how to ask for a blanket calmly, it goes straight to “COLD! COLD! COOOOOLD!!!!!” while thrashing and flailing her body around, arguing with anyone who dares intervene. These fits can last 15+ minutes before she snaps out of it. Same thing for hunger, or boredom, etc. Unfortunately the change of scenery did no good, as she was still acting up frequently on the trip. After a tantrum, I would calmly try to get her to apologize to people she yelled at, which only caused her to cry and demand “Mama, Mama, Mama” until we could get her on the phone. Appointments have been made.

It won’t be long before we’re back in South Dakota, as we are driving up in July to drop John off for “Camp Glanzer” and then his big 12-year trip with Grandma to Seattle. John’s bringing a friend to the farm for the first time this year too. I plan on taking Hwy 281 the whole way this time for something new.

First stop off the plane—the Groton Dairy Queen. Edie was being nice at this point.
I was the lone Class of 2001 rep at Alumni!
Edie joins the cousins on the paddleboat at the lake in Huron.
Me with 3 of Jordan’s kids.
The gals making S’mores. Edie gave me one and I took a bite but it had a rock in it. Ouch.
Kids riding a 4-wheeler in the rain.