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| Kerri Thoreson |
Be careful what you wish for
I know I'm on record through the years of yearning for sunny days in the middle of winter and basking in the summer heat when the season rolls around, but yowza, this little heat wave of ours arrived along with a houseful of family who came to enjoy a week of North Idaho recreation. The daughters, sons-in-law and grandsons converged on Casa Thoreson and a couple days of touristy outings before we headed up the river to camp and float. So despite the mercury climbing past the 100 mark, away we went to Silverwood and Boulder Beach, along with about 10,000 other people, on Saturday. It was definitely the place to be. Anywhere you could get wet was the place to be. We also enjoyed an evening at the Julyamsh Pow Wow, where even after nine years of this incredible event, I'm still awed and moved by the beauty and history and spirituality of the gathering of Native Americans from all over the country.
By the time Sunday rolled around and it was time for the first annual Thoreson Family Camp Out in a Van Down by the River floating trip, we were ready. Remind me next January when it's cold and gray and the sun comes up late and goes down early how much I love the summer sun. Right now I've got a bit too much sweat pouring down my face to see the big picture clearly.
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Summer is class reunion time and there are a number of high schools celebrating in the coming month. I enjoyed an unofficial reunion with a friend from my junior high days last week. Wendy Fullwiler and her sisters Jill and Polly spend a week at the family cabin on Everwell Bay near Lutherhaven every year, a sisterly bonding time. It's been over three decades since I've been out to their cabin, so what fun to spend time with a good friend on a beautiful lake. What I love about Wendy and friends from those early, teenage, formative growing up years is stepping easily back into the laughter of shared experiences and feeling the years slip quickly away. It's not a desire to turn back the clock, but a celebration of the connections of friendship and community and shared memories. So for all of you celebrating your first 10-year high school reunion in the next few weeks, here's an observation ... the older we get, the more valuable those connections become.
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If you enjoy getting up with the sun, this Friday morning Walt Connally will celebrate his 85th birthday with a hot air balloon ride. The retired Army major is taking to the skies thanks to a Father's Day gift. Seeing him off from the North Idaho College soccer field will be his wife, Hope, daughters Claudia Hurt and Carole Tabakman, along with granddaughter Kailey Diebold and great-granddaughter Tanner Diebold. It will be a four-generation send-off.
Kerri Rankin Thoreson is the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune and a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. "Main Street" appears in The Press every Wednesday. Kerri can be reached at rkthor52@aol.com or www.kthoreson.com.
