No, I wasn’t whooping and hollering and kissing when the New Year arrived. I was peacefully snoring, snug in my warm bed. I forgot to watch the Rose Parade and the thought of making resolutions never crossed my mind.
My new year’s activities wouldn’t win “party girl of the year” awards, but a new year does have meaning for me. Like every other year, 2009 had its ups and downs. I’m happy to say good-bye to some things but saddened by other losses.
Reusable plastic containers like Gladware win my top award for a happy farewell. At first these storage containers with interlocking
lids seemed like the best invention since white bread. No more Tupperware bowls without lids…that was the idea I embraced.
Ha. What I got, after several years of furious consumerism, were more tumbling and mismatched plastic containers falling from a storage cupboard than ever in my life. This past year, I wised up. Good-bye to interlocking lids.
My next happy farewell is to my 8-year-old cell phone, although I confess to mixed emotions. I took pride in being the only person on the plane to pull out an antique cell phone as the aircraft landed on the runway and passengers were allowed to turn on their cells. It set me apart from the crowd.
But the antenna had long disappeared and the old phone showed symptoms of dilapidation, plus a young whippersnapper at a cell phone store informed me that I was using the very last car charger made for my model.
Out with the old. In with the new. At the very end of 2009, I made the switch. Now a shiny new cell phone nestles in my handbag. It performs a gazillion tasks that will take most of 2010 for me to understand.
The sad farewells are the hardest to write about but I’d like to mention three people who passed on in 2009, people who made a difference in their community: Holly Nelson, Lyle Saethre and my Uncle Art.
Holly Nelson’s passing brings a sad good-bye. Almost every kid growing up in this community in the ’80s remembers Radio Shack and renting videos from patient, soft-spoken Holly. He could be counted on to videotape any community activity: band concerts, church services, football and all sports. If you wanted to see your child performing at gymnastics or singing in Son’s Rays, all you had to do was talk to Holly.
Lyle Saethre’s passing brings another sad farewell. Who will paint the wonderful colorful historical pictures on local buildings now? His zest and enthusiasm for life was evident in his work. Lyle Saethre’s paintings on Bally’s Blacksmith shop are vividly alive. They are crisp, clear and tell a story. I am saddened that he will never create another.
I didn’t know Holly or Lyle well, only as fellow community members, but I’ve always known Uncle Art who never let me forget that unfortunate toddler diaper mishap when I rode on his shoulders.
Uncle Art Becker enjoyed nothing more than telling a story to a room full of listeners and knew how to do it using timing, good humor and frequently, shock effect. He never quit being a “character.” Who will ever replace his zany antics and superb story telling skills?
Theworld will be quieter, a little drabber and a lot duller because of the passing this past year of these three men.
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