Omaha

I just returned from a four-day visit to Omaha.  My good buddy Steve was home visiting his family, and since I'm not working right now, I figured why not drive over and see some old (we are old) friends.  I brought my camera, but I was not a good photog, likely because so many people were giving me a hard time about my old cell phone (circa 2008) that I didn't want to further embarrass myself and bring out an even older camera (or just a camera in general since most peoples' phones serve that role).  Fortunately, some others took pictures and forwarded them to me.

Friday night was a mini-reunion from Papillion-LaVista class of 1991.  A group of us--me, Steve, Jon Peterson (and his wife Shelly), Dave Alati, and Aaron Thomas met at BW3's; Scott Lauritsen (Steve's older brother) and Jerrid Derr (class of 1992) were also there.  We stayed out well past our bedtimes--I think we got home past 11--and reminisced and told stories and made fun of our past behaviors.  Sadly, there are no pictures to document this.

Saturday, I went over to the Wolfe-pack's house and went to lunch with Kristine (Sharp).  This name is probably familiar to all the blog readers, as the Wolfe-pack spent New Year's 2017 at our house.  We had a lovely lunch, and then played three games of Scrabble, all of which were won by yours truly, making it something like five in a row (not that I'm counting).  Sadly, again, no pictures.  Saturday night, Steve, Kristine, and I met up with Jenny Lashier (Montgomery), who was in town with her family for her parent's 50th anniversary.  We met up for drinks and what not, telling familiar stories from days long ago.  Fortunately, there are some pictures.  First, a nice shot of the four of us from the bar.

Around 10 pm, Big Stiv convinced Jenny to take us back to her parent's house.  I can't imagine how I would react to a few clowns coming to my house late at night--I think Jenny's husband, Andy, and one of her daughters were already asleep.  However, they could not have been more gracious, and it was simply lovely to see Peggy and Arlyn (Jenny's parents).  At some point, Peggy mentioned something about a Ping-Pong table in the basic.  Immediately, Steve and I had our engrained Pavlovian response to the words "Ping-Pong" as we spent many hours playing in my parent's basement.  One thing led to another, and soon, we were all in the basement playing games and such.  Andy (Jenny's husband) suggested a game of doubles.  Steve and I versus Arlyn (who is 70 years old) and Andy.  Sadly, we were smoked, and smoked badly.  In the first three games, I don't think we scored in the double-digits, as is evident by my exasperated look.

We think Andy and Arlyn just wanted to go to bed, because we actually won the forth game, at which point we realized we should let this poor family sleep (although we feel we could have played for many more hours due to the rabid fan we had in Jenny's daughter who kept chanting "Jeff and Steve!  Jeff and Steve!" any time we did something good.  We took time for one more picture, and made our way home before we turned into pumpkins.

Sunday was a golf day, and like a moron, I again left my camera in the car.  I played with Jon and Shelly at their country club.  I hadn't played in over five years, and boy did it show.  I should have paid more attention to Shelly, who doesn't crush the ball, but she just hit the ball straight and true.  I'm sure she got tired of having to wait (multiple times) while we looked in vain for my ball.  Something must be wrong with my driver because most of my tee shots had a horrific slice.  After golf, we ate Mexican, which was awesome.  Yesterday was my last day, and I spent some time driving around Papillion.  The place is nothing like it was back in 1991.  Then again, Colorado Springs is nothing like it was back in 2000; I guess that's just what happens as we get older.  I also got to see Ken and Mary Peterson (Jon's parents), who are doing great.  And Monday night was a quiet night at Steve's Mom's (Sue), watching her beloved Spurs get eliminated from the playoffs :-(

Today, I came home and was reminded that, despite what the news will have you think, most people are quite nice.  Case in point:  As I was leaving Ogalala, Nebraska, where I filled up with gas, I left my wallet on the roof of my car.  I had no idea I had done this until I got a call saying my wallet had been found in the middle of the street.  The effort these two people went through to track me down is amazing--I don't have my cell number in my wallet, but an hour after it was lost, I got the call.  At first, I was just mad at what I'd done, but when I thought about how bad it could have been, I realized I was quite lucky.  Yes, I had to turn around and drive back, which added about 100 miles to my trip, but it was worth it, both to get my wallet back and to have this subtle reminder that nice people do exist in the world :-)  I had a lovely trip to Nebraska, and must thank Ashley and Bode for letting me go have fun while they slaved away at the home front (although they did forget to put the trash out...)  Pleasant week to all.