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Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Big Green Truck.

Anybody that knows me very well, has heard this story. But in light of what's happened in the last couple weeks, I feel the need to share it again.

A couple weeks ago a very close childhood friend of mine's father passed away. We'll call her Dani. We'll call her sister Alli and her brother Nate. I had kind of lost contact with Dani over the last couple of years. Ya know...you graduate, and everybody moves on and makes new friends right? Right. That's what happened to Dani and I.

Growing up on a dairy farm, there really weren't neighbor kids for us to play with. Dani and her family lived just down the road. The back of our farm connected with the front of theirs. We could easily get to their house via 4-wheeler or mini-bike. They were the "kids next door". Nate was best man in my brothers wedding. We were all tight. When I found out of their fathers death, it broke my heart. He was a second father to me. He was my softball coach. He was one of those fathers that played ball with you, not just watched. He shot free throws and could kick anybodys ass.

At the wake Nate says, "Bekka, Dad thought a lot of you. I know he never showed it, but that was his way of pushing you to do your best. Remember the Big Green Truck? That was his favorite story of you." The wind could have knocked me over. Let's go back.......

Alli was 2 years older than Dani and I which when you're a fresman in high school and you need a ride, is awesome. We went everywhere together. The story of the Big Green Truck starts out as this...

Softball practice had just ended and Dani says, "Hey Beck...need a ride?" Of course I did. I wasn't walking 3 miles home. "Sure...lets roll!!" I say. "Well, Alli's car had a flat this morning, so Dad sent us in the truck." No problem thinks I. It's a farm truck, but I'm used to that. "Where'd Alli go?" I ask Dani.

"She went to get the truck." replys Dani.

Off in the distance we hear a rumble. Dani and I instantly start to laugh. Coming towards us in the Big Green Truck is Alli. She's struggling, but she's doing very well. Dani pulls and tugs on the passenger door, but it won't budge. She screams through the open window, "Alli, I can't believe you locked the door on this beast. Open it up!!"

"It's not locked. It just doesn't open remember?"

"Oh yeah," says Dani, "well jump out so we can get in."

"Are you kidding me? It took me 5 minutes to get this thing started. There is no way I'm taking my foot off the clutch. Climb in through the window."

Dani and I never to turn down a challenge being the assent. She climbs in first. With lots of twisting turning and grunting, she successfully maks it inside. Now its my turn. "C'mon Bekka. It was easy!" she teases.

"Yes, I'm sure it WAS easy when you climbed in. There is now one more person in there making it much harder for me!" But nevertheless, I begin my climb. I twist, turn, grunt, groan and most of all laugh and finally after elbows, knees, and feet to Dani's face, I'm in. "WHEW. Let's go Alli." As I look out the window, my heart sinks. There on the pavement in front of the school...OUTSIDE the truck...is my duffle bag. Thankfully a couple of 7th graders had been watching and handed me my bag.

As we head on down the street the truck starts to make a horrid sound. "SHIFT ALLI!!" screams Dani.

"I CAN'T" screams back Alli.

"Oh well," I say "we'll just have a nice slow ride home."

So, we make the 3 mile trip to my house in first gear. I think we topped out at about 20 miles per hour. We pull into my driveway and as always, I say "Thanks for the ride guys, see you tomorrow!" and grab for the door handle. It won't budge. This causes an uproar of laughter from the 3 of us. I had to get out the same way I had gotten in. But there was no way I was going OUT head first. Again after much twisting, turning, grunting, groaning and feet, knees and legs to Dani's face, I was free. I laid on the ground in front of my house for a good 5 minutes.

The next morning at school as soon as I made eye contact with Dani, she says, "Bekka...whatever you do, don't EVER forget the Big Green Truck!" And I haven't.

Almost 10 years have passed since that day, and I still remember it like yesterday. As I walked through the line at their fathers wake, all these memories came flooding back to me. I know it had been 3 years since I'd seen Dani, but when I got to her and put my arms out for a hug, she grabbed ahold of me and put her head on my shoulder and sobbed. She sobbed for the pain he had been in, she sobbed for her pain and she sobbed for knowing she'd never again see her father. I sobbed with her. I sobbed for ever losing contact with her, i sobbed wishing she didn't have to lose her father, and I sobbed knowing that someday this would be me and I can't imagine losing my father.

As I pulled away from her I put her face in my hands and said, "I love you Dani. If you need me please call me."

I had so many other things I wanted to say to her, but that's all that would come out. I went back to my life and haven't heard from her again. But there isn't a day since then that I haven't thought of those girls and all the funny stuff we did and wondered if Daddy-o was part of it.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

My Maiden Voyage

Well...here we go. My very first blog post. I really don't know where to start. I guess I'll start by introducing myself and my family.

Bekka: Me. I'm guessing you're going to learn alot about me from reading this. I work full time as a dialysis nurse in a very small dialysis unit here in our small town, PoDunk. I have awesome friends and an awesome family that keep me going. Of course, I'm not a fan of drama, but always seem to be able to find it somewhere.

Aaron: My husband. We've been married for 5 1/2 years. It hasn't all been smooth sailing, but what marriage is? He currently works 40+ hours a week as a sanitation engineer. He loves his job and is very happy with what he does. He also works part-time on my parents farm.

Ariel: My daughter. She's 3 years old. Sometimes I think she's too smart for her own good. She knows her ABC's and most of her numbers. She speaks very clearly and knows a lot of songs. Granted...they're country songs and not kids songs, but songs nonetheless. She loves anything Disney and especially Playhouse Disney.


Belle: My daughter. She's 15 months old. Sometimes I feel like I compare her too much to Ariel. But what parents don't do that? She's a total lover and will go to anybody. She's got a grin that'll melt anybody's heart. She loves music and loves to dance.


That's about all I have for right now. I'm going to try to not bore you to tears when you read this. HA.