I'm sad I couldn't make it to Hutch this year but I've got to admit the last couple days have been pretty interesting for me. 

On Saturday, I went to the wedding of an old friends daughter.  While standing in the food line I got to talking to the aunt of the groom and her family.  They are from Chicago, as is the groom and until Saturday, had not met any of them.  She asked if I lived here (Colorado) and I replied that I had since I was seven years old.  She asked where I was born and I replied, Ohio.  She said she had an aunt that lived in Medina, Ohio when she was growing up (50 years ago).  I told her that was where I was born, huh, small world.  She asked if I knew her aunt's family and the name didn't ring a bell.  She said her folks would take her and her siblings to Oho every summer to visit and when she was in her teens, she rode horses with her older married cousin near Hinckley.  That sparked my interest as Hinckley is where I lived.  I asked what her cousins married name was and she replied that she had gotten divorced around 30 years ago but she was married to Jim Van Deusen.  I about fell over, My cousin is married to Dale Van Deusen, Jim's brother!  AND the house where her cousin lived and she rode  horses is now owned by my cousin's son, after it was sold to other people couple times over the years. 

Talk about small world!  What is the chance of this happening?  Maybe Shameless and I should go to a casino!

Today I attended a funeral for an elderly neighbor who was my 4-H leader 60 plus years ago.  It was great to see her family, some of whom I had not seen in 40 years.

So, I do regret missing Hutch this year but I think staying home was what was supposed to happen...

  Well,,John,,thas an interesting story and you are correct,,,,somethimes these things seem to be destined to happen and no way around it,,,,!!!

 One of the really great ones is when you meet up with an old girlfriend,,,,,,,and,,,,and,,,they don't look near as great as they did many of those days ago,,,,,,

  There was this little "click" of 4 girls that was the most popular, prettiest, good'ist lookin,, did I say beautiful,,?? Yep they was but also the most stuck up BIT**** in town,,,!!!Bout 4 months ago,,I run into the one I was in love with,,,but she didn't even know my name back then,,,!!!

 I run into her at the post office and she did NOT look like I remembered her as she had put on a few pounds and looked like somebody had been doing a Michael Jackson  with her face and I just did not recognize her til she gets right next to me and breathes in my ear,,,"I used to think you were cute in High school",,,WTF,,?? she coulda fooled me,,,cause I think I mighta asked her out bout 53 times and she never had time for ole Joe back then,,,, Ya see,,I had heard thru the grapevine that she was currently single and had been married or shacked up bout 5 times,SOOOooooo,,,I figured she was due for some payback,,,,,,,

 I say back in her ear,,,,,,"Funny,,I don't remember you too much cause you have changed SO much,,,you were heavier back then,,wasn't you,,?? 

I then hurried out the door cause she was spittin mad,,,she was,,,,

 

John, would have been nice to meet you.  Everyone was talking about how juicy those peaches were last year!  Glad you had a memorable weekend despite not making it to Hutch.

Made us go through immigration even though we would re-board the same plane and we had to stay in the terminal, a terminal under major reconstruction. Everyone getting frustrated as line moving slow and the two guys in front of me were talking about the weather due to how the workers outside were dressed. I offered up that the weather in Japan was similar for the most part to the northeastern US where it sounds like you guys are from and I had worked plenty in mainly northern Japan.

One fella states that they are in-fact from the northeast and pulls out his business card for the travel agency he owned in Utica, NY. Recognizing the name of his company, I tell him I've used them and I recalled a feisty gal I dealt with and told him I remembered her first name was Beth. 

He goes into damage control and asks if I was satisfied with their overall service before admitting Beth was a very good employee but was known for handling problem customers as she took no $hit from anybody.

It was then that I admitted that she could always handle anyone, she had to while growing up on a dairy farm as one of eight kids, four of them brothers of which I was one of them.

We laughed about that in the family for years, meeting her boss on the other side of the world while standing in line at an airport in Japan.

It is a small world indeed. 

 Yeah,,Hubert,,,,I know what you mean,,,and after I had run a couple of blocks and was pretty sure she wasn't chasin after me,,,I got to thinkin I ,,,,"might",,of been a tad harsh on her seein as how it wasn't her fault she had got ugly and fat,,,,and as I was sittin there goin over my "forgive Me" speech,,,,she drove by and flipped me off with BOTH hands and almost run into a parked trk,,,,,!!!!!

 SO,,,,I casually throw her a double barrel myself and just went on home,,,,I don't go to them danged reeunions anyways,,,,,

 Hey Tim,,,now that right there is an amazing story ,,,,them dang Americans is everywhere ain't they,,,,,,???