The hometown paper came today and after lunch I plopped down in my recliner and started to page through the paper.

Every week the paper has a section titled “Can You Recall” and it consists of a picture that had been featured in a past issue.

This week’s picture looked especially familiar. It was dated May, l956 and consisted of the Elim Lutheran Sunday School classes and their teachers.

What a somber looking group they were. Thirty-eight students and teachers probably celebrating the end of the school year and nary a smile filled their sweet little faces.

Their faces reminded me of the time I decided to gather our family together and do an Advent service around our kitchen table. All three of our children stared at me with that same unsmiling expression.

Looking back on it now perhaps I was staring back at them with the same expression also. 🙁

As I scanned the faded old photo, I began to recognize faces.

There stood Dave a member of my sixth- grade class towering over all of his classmates. He was almost six feet tall, and I was so jealous back in those days as I was only four feet six inches tall at the time.

Unfortunately, I was not in the picture. My Dad’s picture was displayed in the church as he had been confirmed in that church many years before.

When he met a single woman school- teacher teaching at his neighboring country school he was smitten and gave up his bachelorhood.

The teacher turned out to be of the Catholic faith and that explains why I was missing from the Sunday School picture. (I would have been smiling though had I been there.)

I spotted my first serious girlfriend and was reminded of what a failure I was at courting. Anxieties will end up causing relationship disasters I quickly learned. 🙁

Then I spotted Pokey my trumpet playing buddy. (There is a story about that name, but I have long forgotten it.)

I remember the long walks from our classroom to the band room where we would perform our trumpet lessons for the band director. I would be sweating ‘bullets’!

Pokey was very good at playing the trumpet, me not so much. We would take turns playing a variety of scales. Pokey would play her music flawlessly while I floundered and emitted sounds that did not always correspond with the notes on the page.

Bless the band director as I must have put him in an uncomfortable position music wise. 🙁

Scanning the group, I recognized the three sisters who lived on the farm directly across the road from our families’ farm. Looking back, it’s amazing not one date occurred between the three cute neighbor girls or any of the Larson brothers.

The only explanation is the many years living so close together we probably thought of ourselves as family, brothers and sisters. 🙂

But then there was that ‘Catholic/Lutheran’ conflict that was often a romance destroyer in those days. If that is confusing to you young folks reading this, visit with your grandparents and they will explain the issue to you. 🙂

Tom and Dick were also with the Sunday School group. They were our cousins adopted by our aunt and uncle when the boys were six and eight.

They came from a dysfunctional family where the Dad was a severe alcoholic and the children were taken from the home and adopted into new families.

What fun we cousins had growing up! We baled hay together, picked rock, had apple fights, went salamander hunting, fishing, celebrated holidays together, and enjoyed many homecooked meals together.

Cousins today don’t have the luxury of living close together so they can experience that kind of togetherness. We would be a happier world if that were a possibility. 🙂

Linda caught my eye in the picture and immediately I remembered how I nearly became her prom date. I still feel embarrassed about that situation.

Linda was in my sister Pat’s class. They were seniors.

I was at college at the University of Minnesota, Morris and was impressed when I received a letter from Linda. I thought how thoughtful of her to send me a note.

As I read the friendly letter a folded sheet of white paper fell out of the letter and landed in my lap.

“Oh, how thoughtful”, I thought, “Linda sent me a sheet of paper to write her back. I’ll have to jot her a note tonight after studying.”

That next weekend the Clinton High School musicians came to our campus for their spring music competition.

My sister, Pat, came running up to me frantically asking me if I planned on taking Linda to the prom. (The prom was being held that evening!)

“Duh,” was all I could think of saying.

Then it hit me, that blank white, folded sheet of paper in Linda’s friendly letter must have not been blank.

Going back to my dorm room I located the letter and unfolded the white blank paper. The inside was not blank but contained an invitation to the prom!

I’m not sure what kind of prom Linda had that spring, but I know I continue to suffer embarrassment every time I remember that unfortunate missed communication. 🙁

After that downer I better end with something a little more positive.

1956 was the year I had Mrs. Violet Sager as my sixth- grade teacher. She was responsible for making me realize I was a good writer and that’s when my dream to become an author began.

It was a very simple action when Mrs. Sager picked several exceptional bird reports and displayed them on the bulletin board.

One of those reports was mine and I can still hear one of my classmates telling me, “Mike, you are a good writer!”

The dream began.

So, I must say thank you to the Northern Star our hometown paper for allowing me to take a walk down memory lane.

I just wish the photographer who took that picture would have told a good Lutheran joke before snapping that picture. We Christians should always have a smile on our face. 🙂

Until next time.