35th Class Reunion and meeting with an old college friend.

Class of 1978 Chamberlain, SD
Photo taken 7/13/2013 at the Reunion Banquet
WmRoy Karlen photo

Well.... last weekend (July 12 & 13) was my 35th High School Reunion back in good old Chamberlain, South Dakota.  It's hard to believe it's been 35 years ago that I graduated from High School.  At times when I think back it seems like it was so long ago but then other times I remember going off to SDSU (South Dakota State University) in the fall like it was yesterday.  In fact I think I was going to my freshman orientation pretty close to 35 years ago from right about now.  That was a great time so exciting and I remember vividly the dance we had there in the evening.  Which honestly seems odd to think of because neither of my kid's had dances for their orientation sessions.  Of course Creath went to a Baptist College so that's understandable and UNL (University of Nebraska in Lincoln) is so very big that I suppose they couldn't really pull something like that off.

Class of 1978 Chamberlain SD
Photo taken 7/13/2013
WmRoy Karlen Photo

Class of 1978 Chamberlain SD
Photo taken 7/12/2013
WmRoy Karlen Photo

I'm not sure exactly how many of my classmates actually made it home for the reunion as some were there for the gathering on Friday night that didn't make it to the events on Saturday and some just showed up Saturday for the 'official photo' at the Banquet.  Unfortunately though we had more folks at the Friday night event and more at the bar on Saturday night than were in the photo at the banquet.  Looking at the photos it looks like 22 of us were actually captured on film which isn't a bad showing for a class of 98 people.  It was a great gathering and I enjoyed visiting with folks I really only see every few years.  Some of them I don't think I'd seen since our graduation day to be honest.  

Friday night I spent quite a bit of time talking to my good friend Greg Powell who of course I have kept in contact with and whom I talk to on the phone on a fairly regular basis.  Greg's wife Terri and my wife Gail spent a good part of the evening on Friday night visiting while Greg and I focused on our classmates and they decided that we should make arrangements sometime to meet in Sioux Falls for dinner or something.  That would be great as we both just love Greg and Terri and we so rarely get to spend time together.  Saturday night the Powell's were in Sioux Falls to attend the wedding for Greg's younger brother Brad's oldest daughter.  I haven't seen Brad since College but from what Greg tells me he's doing very well and has a great family.  

I was asked to give the invocation at the banquet which I was happy to do for all the alumni.  Shared some of my own words along with a prayer adapted from the writings of St. Francis of Assisi.

While in Chamberlain we stayed with and had a great visit with my older brother Merrill Jr. and his wife Karen.  Jr. and I went out on Saturday to see Mother at the Ranch and she coerced us each into having a slice of pecan pie (didn't take much effort on her part for me as this is my favorite kind of pie and nobody makes it like Mother) as well as a slice of fresh strawberry pie.  Mother has always baked great pies and it has sad to say been too many years since I've gotten up to enjoy one.  We had a nice visit with her and my sister Laura who now lives with Mother.

On Sunday we went to Church with Jr. and Karen at the United Church of Christ in Chamberlain.  Their new Pastor seems like a good guy and gave a good sermon even though I was very tired from staying up late the night before.  I always enjoy visiting the UCC in Chamberlain as it brings back many memories from my youth.

While Gail and I went up to attend my reunion Creath came home from Sioux Falls to babysit the cats and dogs here at home.  Otherwise there would be nobody here to let the girls out since Madeline and her friend Danielle were still working their way back to Omaha from Maine where they had spent a little over a week with Danielle's grandparents.  Maddie got to go into New York City and Boston while she was back east.  They had a great time with Danielle's family there and Danielle's grandparents just loved Maddie to pieces.  They told her she was welcome to come and stay with them anytime even without Danielle.  The grandfather is a big collector of albums and he gave Maddie several old classic rock albums, among them two Foreigner albums which I threatened to snatch from her.

Madeline made it home late on Saturday the 13th and had a chance to have a good visit with Creath before he headed back to Sioux Falls on Sunday afternoon.  He left before we made it back home from Chamberlain but left his car with us which needed some work done and drove my car back to Sioux Falls.  So I had his car repaired this past week and yesterday (July 21st) Gail and I drove up to Sioux Falls and traded cars with him.  We had intended to attend Church in Sioux Falls but we forgot to set the alarm and over slept so we didn't get to Sioux Falls until 12:30 and we just took Creath out for lunch at the Old Chicago.  We didn't get to visit with him for very long unfortunately as he had to go into work.  Gail and I did a bit of shopping (I know, LOL we come from Omaha and go shopping in Sioux Falls) and left Sioux Falls a little after 2:00 pm.

I had earlier in the week contacted one of my old college buddies Kirk Jensen who lives near Beresford, SD.  It seems that whenever we go up North we're always rushing to get home and I never have a chance to drop in and see Kirk.  It had been many, many years since I'd seen him last and honestly both of us have had major life changes since then.  Well this trip I knew we would only be in Sioux Falls a short time and we had nothing pressing to get back to Omaha for so it was the perfect time to try and get together with Kirk.  

We spent about three hours visiting with Kirk and his wife LaJean, and had a wonderful visit.  Enjoyed the rhubarb cobbler with ice cream as well as the great deal of reminiscing that Kirk and I did while our wives visited.  Gail and LaJean seemed to get along well which was good because Kirk and I seemed to quickly settle back into our old relationship.  We even discussed politics and religion and just as we have never agreed we were able to be great friends and enjoy the conversation.  Interestingly enough we have now traded places with Kirk now being the more conservative and me being to the left of him on several topics.  LOL, I would have never guessed that would happen.  

Was great seeing you Kirk and meeting your lovely wife.  I sure hope we're able to keep in touch better than we have for the last 31 years.  Perhaps I'll see if we can work out getting Mr. Forman and Mr. Powell to meet with Kirk and I sometime, it would be even better if we could convince my old roommate Kent Haselhorst to meet with us all.  I genuinely miss all of you guys so much and would thoroughly enjoy a gathering such as that.

Kirk Jensen of Beresford, SD & Roy Karlen of Omaha, NE
Looking good there Kirk!
July 21, 2013
WmRoy Karlen photo

Gail drove all the way up to Sioux Falls and part of the way back so I used that time to do some reading and writing for ELM.  Our next (and last class) for ELM is in Schuyler, NE and it will be a three day session on Presbyterian Polity.  That will be the last gathering for us and then there will just be the graduation in Grand Island which will only be a couple hours long.

We got back into Omaha about 8:15 pm last night and after being gone all day and being so late we decided to just go out to eat so we stopped at the house for just a minute and then slipped over to Applebee's.  I have to laugh at us as we always complain that the kids only ever want to eat at either Applebee's (Maddie) or Chili's (Creath) and here when we have a chance to go someplace else we default to Applebee's.  LOL, well we both were very tired and didn't know what all would be open at that time on a Sunday night so it was just easier to go somewhere familiar.  Once Maddie is off to UNL we have planned to go out to eat on either Saturday or Sunday each week and to try different places.  I keep saying I'm going to start writing down places that I see or hear of that I'd like to try but of course I'm yet to get around to doing that.

Today marks four months to my 54th birthday so starting this week I am now training towards that date.  I of course was training up to my reunion (though I missed my goal body weight by 5 lbs) but since then I've let myself relax a bit and didn't adhere to my diet last week very well (put on 3 pounds too) and I only went to the gym twice last week.  Though I did hit every bodypart once.  This week I am kicking off a different regime focusing on somethings that I feel are lacking.  

Last week I did regular barbell bench presses for the first time in almost two years.  I've avoided them due to my shoulder injuries but I've brought my grip in a bit and I'm hoping that will be enough of a change to allow me to use this movement again.  I don't have any problems doing close grip barbell benches so I'll keep my fingers crossed.  For the last couple of years I've used barbell incline bench presses with a wide grip as the backbone of my chest routine for the most part.  By doing this I've managed to accomplish something that few ever do and that is that now my upper pectorals overshadow my lower pectoral.  Of course there really isn't an upper or lower pectoral but the way the muscle bellies develop it gives that appearance.  Most lifters focus on regular benches so much that they never build a decent upper chest.  I've kind of gone the other direction and will now try to rectify that by trying to bench again as well as throwing back in weighted dips along with continuing to do machine flies.

I have also modified my workout to focus more on deltoid training as my delts have never been to my liking.  On the night when I train delts I also train arms but I will lead off with delts and then at the end finish the workout with another set of delts.  It would make my day if I could get them to finally respond to training the way I'd like, my problem is my body is so pectoral and trapezius dominant that training my deltoids is always difficult.

I'm working on developing an online ministry project, however that is in the discussion and investigation stages and I'm not ready to announce that I've undertaken this project.  It may well be that the liability issues will not allow us to launch this project but I'm praying that I'll be able to work it out and that with the kind assistance of others from all over the world we'll be able to do some good for the world.  But again, I and the others I've contacted about this are uncertain about our own liabilities in doing this so we're trying to determine this before going any further.

I've been working a little bit every night sorting and shelving Jesse's books.  I put up the equivalent of eight 5 shelf bookcases and it looks like I will need to get three more 3 shelf bookcases.  I'll put these under the window in the basement and I'm hoping to slip away this afternoon and pick those up at the Furniture Mart.  That should give me enough room for all of Jesse's books along with what I already had on my own.  The hardest part is deciding how to organize them in a fashion where I'll be able to locate them if I'm working on a particular topic.

I'm anxious to get my library all set up as I'd like to be able to sit in the recliner I've put in there and spend time reading.  In sorting through the books I'm finding far, far too many that I want to read immediately.  LOL

May this week find you all richly blessed and thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my ramblings.

In God's absolute and unending Love & Grace,
Roy

What a beautiful country church, I wish I knew where it is.
WmRoy Karlen