Border Town
Posted in On The Road on May 23rd 2005 by Randy Reichardt:: I spent the weekend in Lethbridge, with a short, 5-hour side trip to Sunburst MT, seven miles south of the Canada/US border on Saturday. I visited Robert, his wife Mary, and children, Tigana and Kasia. Sunday was a very lazy day, and we spent some time playing in the “bouncy house“, which was a lot of fun. It was nice to be away from television and newspapers, although I did check my e-mail periodically. Later that day, Mary suggested that Robert and I see the new Star Wars movie in the evening. I was reminded early in my visit that raising two children, especially when one is 18 months old, is a full-time, 24 hour a day job for both parents. Mary’s very kind gesture afforded Robert and I chance to visit a bit more, and see a movie we would both enjoy, and which I enjoyed a second time in three days, while she stayed home with the girls.
On Saturday, I drove to Sunburst, Montana, to attend the high school graduation of my friend Sharon’s son, Aaron. In contrast to my godson Kellen’s HS grad a few weeks ago, where over 400 students graduated, the 2005 North Toole County High School graduating class numbered 29. The students entered the auditorium in alphabetical order, accompanied by their parents. The ceremony included speeches by two valedictorians, one salutatorian, and one by the guest speaker, a principal from another school in the region. He opened saying he wasn’t going to talk about religion, as was probably expected by the students. After giving the students hints and suggestion for success in life, he said after much thought, he had concluded that the most important advice he could give was to establish a relationship with God. I thought, ok, fine, a relationship with God isn’t “religion” per se. When he told the story of how he accepted Jesus Christ into his life one night in the early 1970s, I thought he crossed the line. He concluded by advising the students to accept Jesus into their lives. I was raised Catholic, but found his speech bizarre and inappropriate. Then again, I don’t know the political or religious culture of the region, and Montana did vote for Bush…
The guest speaker aside, I enjoyed the ceremony, which included tunes by the high school band, featuring Sharon’s daughter, Jenna, on the trumpet.
The last two episodes of 24 are on the air. Tomorrow, L&O: SVU, Wednesday, Lost (another two hour finale) and L&O:CI. I was disappointed to learn that L&O: Trial by Jury, which was just getting its legs, wasn’t renewed by NBC. But tv is over for the year, I can (hopefully) kill my tv until September.
