The Last Hurrah #2 (2018)

Has it been over a year since we watched the eclipse from a meadow in the Cascade Mountains here in Oregon? I cannot believe it! It was a lifetime experience that we shared with some very special friends. (If you are not apart of this group or follow this blog read The Last Hurrah written on August 23, 2017.)

In the year since I wrote that story, not much has changed really for my husband and I. It is true that we are a year older so there is that. As for the others, children have graduated from college and high school. Some of the friends are retired or getting ready to retire. Oh, we also have a new baby, our great granddaughter. WOW!

As for my husband and I, we feel the consequences of aging but we just plug along, fighting through the less than perfect so we can revel in the awesome.

Awesome is what Labor Day Weekend has been about for my daughter and her friends for a very long time. They have gathered in a meadow near Elsie here in the state of Oregon where they played for three beautiful days.

The privilege of watching these people and their children grow up is a treasure that I hold near to my heart.

So this year when we were all gathered very soon after my husband and myself returned from Tucson, I asked if we could come for just one day and see what my daughter had been talking about all these years. We were invited.

Oh my goodness, it was so wonderful to be a fly on the wall (and buzzing around everyone). Not part of the generations gathered yet feeling so much at home.

There were Corn Holes boards (5 or 6 I think), an outhouse and, best of all, a Redneck Swimming Pool. (No river float down the Nehalem this year. Just the small creek that runs through the property where the dogs played.)

Dewey and Earl, aka Cribbage Champions

A Cribbage Tournament took up the best of the afternoon. My 80 year old husband, Earl, and Dewey, the 79 year old father-in-law of our hosts who along with his wife provide the meadow, beat all of us!

There was talk of large print cards and new hearing aid batteries for the really old guys...these young people should learn to not trash talk an old person. The old guys just shrugged and set out to beat them all. With a smile on their face they did just that. We have the prizes to prove it!

Mikaela (hair stylist) and Addie Jo 

Addie Jo, my great granddaughter, was passed around for two days. She loved that a lot.

Dan (Joann's husband) and
his redneck pool cooler!

Cutie Joann, 2nd grade teacher

Smiling, funny, baby lover
Lisa and Addie Jo

Ethan (grandson
just out of the Marines
and beginning
college this fall)
 and his wife Mikaela
are Addie Jo's parents.

Daughter, Addie's
Grandma Susan 

Lucas (Jill's son and the dog!
Oh, did I mention that
there are dogs...lots of dogs!
I think this is Cordelia.)

My friends from L to R.
Lisa (pre-K teacher), me,
Joann (2nd Grade teacher),
Kristine (physical therapist),
Jill (business owner),
Susan (retired State Police).
Kathy the librarian, Paula and
Jacquelyn the hospice nurse,
are missing from the picture.

Grandpa Doug (retired county
 Deputy Sheriff) with Addie Jo

I just poured myself a glass of wine and watched it all. The swim in the Redneck Swimming pool demanded an audience so we pulled up a chair. The outhouse in the background supplemented the "no nudity" sign.

Crowd watching the redneck
 swimming pool action. I am at the far end.

Pool and the outhouse

My good friend, Kristine,
in swimming gear
with Barbie towel!

 I visited with Marissa (Paula's daughter) who will be a senior at Oregon State majoring in Nutritional Studies. Sweet Katie is in her senior year at University of Portland and is majoring in nursing. Jack, Katy's brother, was there with his girl friends. He is at University of Portland in the ROTC program. AND he knows where Spray, Oregon is. I was impressed.

I met Miranda's (Lisa's daughter) fiance. They will be married in December and we will be home so we can attend. Miranda's mother, Lisa, ran Ethan's day-care. Miranda is Ethan's age. Lisa and I bonded over that experience. Ethan is 25 I think and he is my grandson.

Lovely Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn is a hospice nurse and her husband, Sean, is on the police force here in Hillsboro. They are all about traveling.

Susie and Dewey (my husband's Cribbage partner) host the party. Susie still works in the bakery at a local store/restaurant and is Lee's mom. Dewy is retired. They have built a covered bar/dance floor space and a cute little cabin with a composting toilet and bunk beds. A redneck swimming pool was added this year. Built with hay bales and lined with blue stuff, this pool was not easy task for the two of them.

The youngest in the group gets to sleep in the cabin. Addie Jo trumped everyone so she and her parents slept there. She is almost 8 months old.

Dear Sweet Jill

Kathy is the librarian at my grand children's school. Jill and her husband, Charlie, are in the nursery business.

And Kristine and Lee (Oregon State Police)...well they are the stars that everyone circles around. They provided the setting for both the Eclipse party and the yearly Labor Day gathering.

Golly, I do love these people!

Did I overlook anyone? If I did, please know that I try but, as you all know, I am not to be held responsible because of my age. :)

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