Opinion

Thunderstorm

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

In the pursuit of aviation one meets some really interesting friends. To earn a private license a student is required to spend a minimum of twenty hours with a certified flight instructor. That’s me. Twenty hours sitting close side by side with another human pushing you to do things that normal people rarely experience things like the experience of pulling g’s where one’s body will weigh two or three times normal. Things like experiencing weightlessness. Flying the aircraft while unable to look outside and one’s inner senses conflict with what the instruments are telling you to do. Learning the lingo of how pilots talk on the radio. The hardest feat to learn to accomplish is how to land the beast doing close to 100 miles per hour easily airborne to scrubbing the wheels on the runway and keeping it straight until it slows to normal taxi speed and handles more familiarly as do our automobiles.

Then there are the discussions before and after each flight lesson. Lots of hours of togetherness and in the course of it all one learns a lot of each other’s family and their goals in life. Invariably fast friendships develop.

So it has been with a pair of brothers, and a brother-in-law, large farmers all each of whom live some 90 miles from home base here at McCook. Each raising children in a strong moral Christian manner—the ideal of our nation.

One of my pilot friends announced that their eldest daughter was to be married and Grannie Annie and I were invited. Beautiful church wedding, simple yet elegant but there is more to the story, much more.

Seems that the young lady found the prospective suiter on the internet. Yes and he lived some 1100 miles away. The parents were concerned because a daughter is one of the most precious commodities of our family lives. Ah ha arrange for him to fly to Denver and then bring him home to the family farm. Yep same age, never married, a regular church goer as is their precious daughter he seemed to be on the up and up. Next step the mom and dad traveled to Tennessee to meet his family. His mom, dad, siblings, grandparents all met her parent’s standards. The young man had a job and even owned a home. The wedding could be a go. The daughter’s response? Obviously she was pleased that her parents cared and she graciously accepted their endorsement.

Now in this part of the country it seems to be a traditional practice to give the bride to be a nuptial shower. The ladies gather, play games, tell stories, sample a desert or two and give the bride gifts to enhance her new life as a wife and homemaker. (I guess that is how it goes; I’ve never participated). Nice!

Traditionally the groom to be is pretty much ignored or maybe a sometimes raunchy bachelor party is held where his friends offer tongue in cheek advice. Not this family! The invitation by phone indicated that “you” are invited to a Thunderstorm. A bit stronger than a mere shower.

Yes we gathered at an uncle’s sprawling farm home to enjoy their traditional “Thunderstorm”. First order of the day was hot chunks of brat fresh off the grill. Then the main menu of heaping portions of pulled pork, hamburgers, the vegetables were baked potatoes, lots of real butter and sour cream, baked beans with bacon, plus biscuits and gravy. Your choice of ice water, tea or lemonade. Not a drop of alcohol on the place. Then the men gathered around the groom to meet his family, dad, grandads and friends all from Tennessee. A few gifts were given, things like books of daily devotions and how to have a successful marriage, tools, tape measures to insure he “measured up” were popular, and even a new AR-15 style rifle in 22 caliber. As each gift was opened the giver gave advice. Favorite bible verses, advice on giving the bride respect, build her up, cherish her above every other thing in life. Lots of laughter. All uplifting, clean and not a bit of pornography nor slightest suggestion of immoral living. The pastors present obviously approved and for all the young children included the whole evening was a great example of how to live life. Of course homemade ice-cream to top the evening.

A couple of days later the wedding went off without a hitch. Then the reception followed in the bride’s dad’s huge farm shop. All sparkly clean, round tables white table cloths, and chairs for all under a canopy of sparkling lights with good music in the background. And of course a food line featuring fresh grilled tri-tips and chicken chunks with vegetables on a spit plus all the other food items one would expect. Beautiful wedding cake prepared by a grandmother the desert. Ice water, tea or lemonade. Children galore and hordes of friendly happy people visiting and enjoying. What a fantastic send off for a happy, tired, couple.

Kudos to the Chamber of Commerce, Jamie Mockery and crew, for pulling off a super successful Crazy Days festival in McCook. I especially enjoyed the gathering of antique automobiles, some not so antique but still special, followed by the parade through town. Then halfway through my Model T decided to quit running so Grannie and I were shuttled to the sidelines. I didn’t get it fixed to run again in time for the “Car Show” next morning but walked through and enjoyed the other entries. Wagner Ford, Chris and Annette plus volunteer crew did a fantastic job of putting it together. Wonderful cars to inspect, friends to visit with, food available to enjoy, and lots of prizes for the participants. Top notch and my T and I and looking forward to next year. What a wonderful place we live in.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail

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