Wistful Wednesday: Luis

In the summer of 1978 a Foreign Exchange Student from Costa Rica came to live with my parents.  My other baby brother Jody and my sister Julie were still at home.  Jody was a Senior that year.  My baby brother Carey was a newlywed and lived in Oklahoma or maybe Colorado by then.

My parents had a welcoming party for him down in the Recreation room at the resort on Straight Lake.  In this photo I see a friend  of my brother in the background..Tom L. I think and a couple of my cousins.  That is long time area resident and friend Grant looking at the cake.

Luis spoke mostly Spanish and his English was limited, but he got better as the year wore on.  He had never seen snow before…rest assure he got to see lots of it while he was here.  It was interesting and he was a great kid. Our daughters Trica and Jennifer adored him.

Julie, Me, Luis, I am holding Jennifer and Trica is in front of Julie.

This is the day he left Minnesota, we were waiting to send him off on a bus to tour some of the United States before heading home.  He sent me this photo on the back it says “Do you remember this day? My last day in Minnesota.”

Trica and Jennifer were quite upset, they didn’t know why he had to leave. Hard to explain to young children that someone they have grown to love over a year has to head back to his own home.

The kids in his graduating class took up a collection and bought him a plane ticket back for their 10th reunion in 1989.  He borrowed Far Guys car to go to town.  People at the gas station wouldn’t believe him when he said he didn’t know how to put gas in the car.

We have not heard from him in years.  Have you ever hosted a foreign exchange student?

Wistful Wednesday: Winter 1978

It seems we had a bit of snow back in 1978 too.  We lived in Moorhead in Regal Estates.

Here is Trica standing on a snow bank at the end of our driveway.  That is our white Gremlin…it was brand new in 1973 we bought it in Florida when we were stationed at MacDill AFB.  Some days Far Guy rode with Denny next door who also worked for the NDANG. Ruth worked at the phone company nights and I took care of Liz and Thad after school.

When we bought our trailer house mobile home it was brand new and we picked this lot in Regal Estates because the lot was on a cul-de-sac and the neighborhood playground  began right there.  It was a safe place to play and I could keep one eye on the girls.  A gal by the name of Kathy lived across the street then they moved to rural Glyndon/ Deb and Ken moved in across the street…they had a whole bunch of little girls.  Susan, Mike, Chadd, Jaynie and Carrie lived next to them then they moved to Glyndon into a new home.

It looks cold doesn’t it?

When we first moved there in 1975 Dave and Laela, Lisa, Julie and Greg lived next door…then they sold their trailer house and bought a house in Moorhead over by the High School. Then a couple who argued all the time moved in next door in that new green trailer house.  It was embarrassing when you were sitting out in the yard when they had one of their frequent arguments with all their windows open.   The middle trailer house was the home of Jim, Lynne, Tami, Shannon and Tori.  I took care of the kids.  Further on down the way Phil, Lynnette, Jessica and Missy had their home and I also took care of Jess and Missy.

The trailer court was a stepping off point to home ownership for most of us. We lived there from May of 1975 to the summer of 1980 when we moved to a house in north Moorhead.   Mike and Susan still live in Glyndon but will move to the lake this summer, Jim and Lynne still live in Moorhead and Phil and Lynnette moved to Indiana and Deb and Ken moved to Cheyenne Wyoming. I think Denny and Ruth got a divorce…and I am certain that the couple that argued constantly probably got one too.

All those little kids that I took care of so long ago are married and have children..some of which are in college…makes a person feel kinda old.

Wistful Wednesday: South Dakota 1978

Looking back it seems we took a number of vacations in 1978, we ventured to Canada in June, in July we travelled to St. Louis to marry off my baby brother and in August we went to the Black Hills in South Dakota.

 

The Needles Eye …and as you can see our girls are on a rock with their Dad close by. That is Far Guy’s Mom, Evelyn walking away.

The car was a Plymouth Horizon and a special order.  We ordered it and it was delivered to the dealership across town.  I enlisted Denny next door to drive it home for me (Far Guy was gone on deployment) because I needed some practice with the clutch before heading into traffic with two small children.  Remember when you went into the Car Dealership and looked at all the showroom models and you could special order one with everything you wanted?  I think that was the last vehicle we special ordered.  I practiced going around and around the trailer park and was a pro by the time Far Guy came home from where ever he was.

Here they are on a rock again…with their father.  Seems like they must have liked to climb rocks…either that or they all wanted to scare me because I was and still am afraid of heights.

This is youngest daughter Jennifer and her Dad.  Feeding the Chipmunks and the Prairie Dog Town was a fun stop for the girls.  Jennifer was not yet 3 years old and Trica was six years old.

Here are the girls at Mount Rushmore.  I think I must have bribed them with candy to go and stand at the wall and look up.  This was not a very fun place to stop if you are a kid.

Water and climbing on rocks was much more their style.