Bittersweet Lessons About Love and Trust

So, a lot has happened since my last post…

I went back to MN to see my grandfather and family…and had a wonderful time… I was happy to sit once again in a place full of people who loved me….maybe they don’t always understand me but they love me nonetheless…

Sadly, about three weeks later I went back again for a more solemn occasion…my Grandfather…the only one that I had ever truly “had”…the man I hoped would be eternal is dead…

I would try to capture in words the legacy of this man…this curmudgeon and giant of a man if I could…but my years of literary education fail me…

I can’t tell you how much he was loved by me or how much he frustrated me…or how much I wanted to make him proud…or how much I will miss his growly, loving presence…I can only say the things I will remember the most…

His love of horses and the land…His devotion to his family…His devotion to his God…His love of my Grandmother…His dedication to His family…His stories…how I will try to remember them…and the way they made him laugh and by living them, become wiser than I will ever be…

His brilliance…The smell of his pipe (although he gave that up years ago)…The sound of his voice…The knowledge that he was always where you could find him…

His chair…

His frying pan…His face…His joy around his grandkids and great-grandkids…and His stubborn need to hide it all behind a Virgil exterior of hard lines and strong hands…

I will miss you Grandpa…be at peace…and say Hi to grandma for us all…
Know that I write this with all the love and knowledge that I posses...I hope I have made you proud…


So as I sit on my porch in the lovely mountain sun and southerly wind I am reminded of all of life’s gifts…be they challenges or rewards…they are all around and most often where you least expect them to be…


Yesterday I was in Yellowstone with 12 Middle School kids from around the country…showing them and trying to teach them about the beauty of this unique place...when I realized that I didn’t know any science that I could teach them that was more important than the ear that I could lend them…They trust me with their fears and their insecurities more than they want my knowledge…I realized for the first time what it means to be trusted completely…I know trust is hard to give and so I cherish this knowledge more than any other data that I have learned this year…

So despite all the struggles I have had with this program I have learned a lot…

Just don’t tell any of the tree huggers…They'll take all the credit...

And I promise to try to be funnier next blog...because I really am not very drepressed...

Dramatic, yes...but that will never change...