We visited a retirement home with a couple of our adult children this week. Neither Kathie nor I thought it was necessary but agreed we are at that age when those thoughts need to be entertained and explored.

So we spent an enjoyable weekend in Fargo, first watching our beloved Minnesota Vikings end yet another season without capturing that coveted Super Bowl. 🙁

Then Monday at 1:00 pm we were given a tour of a very magnificent retirement facility. For the days following that visit questions, fears and doubts ricochet around my head.

Forty-two years ago, we moved into our newly constructed home on a 7.9- acre piece of farmland a couple miles west of Wheaton where I was in the process of filling the minds of teenagers with knowledge about living things.

If any of you have ever traveled through Traverse County, you probably remember the table-like topography of the area. Well, our little piece of Heaven had a small hill on one end of our property. I always kidded that it was the only hill in Traverse County which was an exaggeration of course. 🙁

On the other end of our property a babbling brook carried water to the Mustinka River which emptied into Lake Traverse. Eventually that water entered the Red River and drained north into northern Canada.

A windbreak was planted on the lone hill with our newly constructed home perched in between the fledgling rows of Siberian Elms, ash trees, Russian Olives, plum trees and honey suckle bushes.

As an old farm kid myself I was in paradise living on our new 7.9 acreage.

It has been a joy watching the windbreak mature but sadly not enjoying the falling branches that are becoming more frequent as the trees age. (Very much like their caretakers.) 🙂

The tillable soil became an alfalfa field for many years and a neighboring farmer mowed and baled the alfalfa. In return he supplied our growing family with a quarter of beef.

I was able to reexperience my favorite farm activity, stacking hay bales on a bouncing hay rack. Steve, Jill and Bonnie, our three children, enjoyed the ride and relived the experience their dad had enjoyed those many years prior.

Later the tillable ground was seeded into a native prairie switch grass and became a part of a farm program called CRP.

We always had a huge garden that seemed to become a little bigger each year. Every spring I would clean out the rotten potatoes from our root cellar and promise myself I would not plant so many potatoes the next growing season.

But sadly, the next spring I went through the same removal of rotting potatoes as I had done in previous years. 🙁

I have always been fascinated by pumpkins. They were always a staple in our huge garden. One year we had an especially large crop of pumpkins, so I placed a for sale sign among them.

They were purchased almost immediately!

For twenty years the pumpkins became our major garden crop. What a joy it was to watch the paired cotyledons pop out of the ground and grow into a mass of jungle-like vines.

The hum of bees permeated the air as the busy little insects collected pollen and nectar that resulted in the production of beautiful orange orbs later that fall.

The yard lined with pumpkins, the slamming of car doors and the squeals of children were the normal fall sites and sounds in our yard for twenty years. I smile just thinking about it.

We have long narrow windows in our house that face south a result of the gas shortage in the 70’s. Passive solar energy was all the rage then so when we designed our home, we took advantage of a south exposure.

Not only was our heating bill lowered on those freezing winter days but the wildlife viewed through those panes of glass live forever in my memory. Rabbits, squirrels, woodchucks, deer, skunks, gophers, and a multitude of bird varieties come to mind.

Those forty-two years of memories makes the thought of relocating and leaving the 7.9 acres behind a little sad.

I have a few regrets. I kept myself so busy gardening, mowing the lawn, raising a family and trying to be the best teacher I could be that I would like to have a do-over. Not a major do-over, just tweaking life on the 7.9 acres a bit.

I would have liked to have sat by our creek and listened to the water flowing more often or watched for migrating walleyes slither over the beaver dam on their way to spawn.

I would have taken more leisurely walks through the windbreak and into the field of switch grass noticing the sites and sounds of nature.

I would have responded more often to that hammock that beckoned me to come take a break while I insisted that I had too much work to do.

I would have insisted we build more bonfires and roasted more s’mores.

I would have played more catch and shot more baskets.

I would have made more time to go fishing.

I would have star gazed more often or when the weatherman said there would be a possibility of viewing Aurora Borealis I would have checked it out even if that meant a midnight viewing.

Perhaps the retirement home visit was a blessing in disguise. It reminded me that it’s never too late for do-overs.

The hammock is under a foot of snow. But, wait! What about that pair of snowshoes hanging up in the garage?

I think I’ll be dedicating tomorrow as do-over Friday.

Happy snowshoeing to me! 🙂

Until next time.