Glorious glory days in a small town

We’re all tuned into and aware of thankfulness as Thanksgiving nears ... for the little things, the big things and all of the things in between that count as blessings. On Saturday afternoon, bundled up in the bleachers under sunny skies at the high school football field in the Montana town of Dutton, I was running the gamut of emotions.

When our youngest grandson, Connor Huft, was born in Coeur d’Alene 18 years ago he wasn’t an Idahoan for long. At one month old he and his parents moved to Northeast Montana where he’s lived ever since. We’ve almost forgiven our daughter for that move.

That distance of several hundred miles has made it impossible for us to cheer him on through all of his high school sports. Basketball and football season take place in fall and winter and it’s a 16-hour drive for us to Medicine Lake.

We’ve been fortunate that most of the football games are streamed on NFHS so we’ve seen the games on our computer. But Saturday was the first game we attended in person … Connor’s last game of high school and for the state championship.

The Redhawks are a consolidated team from Medicine Lake (pop. 244) and Froid (pop. 195) and the host team Titans, representing consolidated towns of Power (pop. 177), Dutton (pop. 303) and Brady (pop. 149). In rural Montana, teams are used to traveling long distances to play regular season games and this year Connor and the Redhawks football team, as well as family and fans, have traveled about 4,000 miles total to get to the point of being one of the last two teams standing in the state. Dutton is about 35 miles from Great Falls, where we all stayed, a trip of about 350 miles for us.

So there we were in the stands wearing black and red, basking in the hospitality of the community of Dutton and the camaraderie of the Redhawk family and fans who know our grandson well.

The Redhawks were state champions last year but in the quarterfinal game Connor injured his knee, ending his season before the big game and also ending his basketball season with surgery and rehab. He worked hard to get to his senior year sports. This last high school football game for him would also be his first time on the field in a state championship game. A lot of firsts and lasts all around.

It was a great game, just kind of a Norman Rockwell feel to the whole thing. I was so happy for Connor when his team took an early lead and held the other team scoreless for four quarters. I was so happy when he caught a touchdown pass. I smiled to myself thinking how when he’s a grandfather one day he’ll be telling his grandkids about how his team was the back-to-back Montana State 6-Man Football champ.

When the clock ran out, the players were like little kids jumping around and high-fiving each other, then the trophy presentation before everyone was allowed to go out on the field to join them. I was gathering our blankets in the bleachers, thinking I’d give Connor a few minutes to enjoy the moment before heading out on the field. Then I hear someone call out, "Grandma!" and turn to see that he’d jumped up into the bleachers for a hug. It was the best hug ever!

Connor will remember the game, his teammates and the whole high school experience in his glory days memory reel. Bert and I will treasure being able to share the pinnacle moment with him. His grandmother, however, will forever remember that hug. It was a championship hug if there ever was one. Glory days, indeed.

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Random holiday week musings … As I demonstrate every year since I was a little girl, and now to the delight or embarrassment of my daughters and grandsons, you are never too old to stick black olives on your fingers at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

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Happy birthday today to Mike Jarrett, Jeff Morrison, Lisa Black, Jesse Gunderson, Debbie Magnuson, Mike Lindquist and Eric Knudtsen. Thankful for their Thanksgiving Day birthdays are Aniyah Colbert, John Cocoran, Sue Thilo, Nelda House, Sue Servick, Kelly Westover, Buck Wilhelm and Babette Banducci. Friday birthdays are Tom Torgerson, Marilyn Fisher, Elijah Ott (18!), Danell Phelps and Sandy Osburn. On Saturday Rocky Shaver, Sue Hutter and Bob Eachon will celebrate. Katie King, Cody and Tristan Webb, Breanna Joyner and Judy Dahl will share Sunday birthdays. On Monday Carol Ann Eachon and Jodine Spry are the birthday girls. Kevin Ekness, Larry Quimby, Carol Kreighbaum, Raine Solberg, Carolyn Walker, Shirley Thagard, Kevin Krieg and Cindy Scinto take another trip around the sun on the last day of the month. The first day of December will find Chris Pappas, Marge Chadderdon, Jay Bremner, Emily Castle and Connie Price putting on their party hats.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.