Mary and Anton at May 17th
May 17th or as it is commonly called, “Mary Dahle Day” is approaching. Bruce’s dear wife Mary has the very Norwegian maiden name of Dahle and as the celebration predates any Bruce involvement that is how the day is also known. This is May 17th
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numero 39.
Neither Bruce nor Mary appreciates being The New Guy film dated but this has been, amongst their circle, one of the high times
of the year for many years. The motivation for the original May 17th remains shrouded in mist. It is said that Mary had her “moment of Zen” that auspicious May 17th years ago and legend says only two others were witness to the original May 17th : Deb R. and Kevin G. But all we can do is take their words for it, because there is no written historical document. Mary makes no comment on the matter preferring rather, to simply have the day stand for a celebration of life, family, friends, and food. Well anyhow, please join Bruce and Mary as they land at Lindbergh International in Minneapolis.
We’d decided to pay about a $400 dollar premium to fly directly out of Mérida instead of doing the bus thing to Cancun. We have really come to hate that four hour bus ride through the low scrub jungle that makes ND scenery look exciting and diverse. We’re at the baggage carousel looking for our one huge blue bag and our close friend Kevin D. appears. He’s looking trim and healthy and I tell him so. Today is Monday, May 18th and the party day is this Saturday, May 23rd.
We have fun getting caught up with Kevin as he maneuvers his Suburban in and out of Minneapolis traffic on the way to Foley where we will be staying with my mother Margaret for the first week of our vacation. That is how we have come to regard our visits to MN. We live and work in Mérida, MX and we vacation in MN.
My Ma welcomes us with hugs and we all take to the deck for beers on this beautiful MN May day. I break out a couple of Cubanos puros, cigars, for Kevin and me and we toast ourselves. Life is good.
Tuesday dawns bright and cool but it quickly heats up as we run around St. Cloud on this, our “errands” day. First on the schedule is a visit to KLN, the computer company in which my late brother Neil was a partner. We get caught up with Larry and George, the other two partners and with Dave a loyal tech of 12 years. George had told me just a week ago that our storage unit at their RV storage facility, in back of their offices, is going away. Neil had given us one of the few personal units, but now they will be knocking those down to make way for more RV storage. This presents an unplanned challenge. We get the key from George and take a look at our 6’ x 12’ by about 16 foot high unit. It looks manageable. We had dispersed some stuff on our last visit.
Next on the schedule is a visit to TCF bank where we are closing our account. The young man we sit with apologizes all over himself until I tell him to stop. It is not his fault that a customer can no longer call this bank and talk to his own personal banker but must dial up a call center, in St. Louis, and wait on hold until some young pup, after wasting 20 minutes of your time, informs you a supervisor must get involved to solve your problem.
And now it is new computer time, Mary’s old IBM needs to be retired. Mary’s best friend in life, Deb R. had already run a “matrix” to select her new laptop so we just do what she did, go to Office Max, buy an HP Presario, and with a few other options it comes to $730.
We’re on a roll now as we book to Coborn’s in Sartell for some May 17th
groceries. Along the way Mary calls “back door Judy” our close friend and back yard neighbor which is what I meant to say when I first introduced her to Neil. You can imagine how the “back door” thing played. We meet at G Allens restaurant in Sartell and Judy’s husband Pete is there, as well. He’d taken the afternoon off from his store,
J.F. Kruse Jewelers. It’s a fun-filled two hour wet lunch and, unbelievably, they want to pick up the check. I finally win out by saying, “We’re buying for three reasons, one – You’re hosting Friday night happy hour (traditionally this has been a Neil gig), two – you’re letting us borrow your portable BB hoop again, and three – you’re letting us borrow your PU for this whole week!” With fond farewells until Friday we head out with Pete’s Ford PU to start our storage dump.
The theme of the next three days is storage runs and party prep. Wednesday our youngest Joey brings up our daughter Helen to join us at ma’s place for party prep and we hear of the tragic death of one of her inner circle, Dennis Dumm. It is ironic that I had seen the headline, “Bicyclist Crushed in Downtown Minneapolis” online this very morning, but hadn’t read the story. Helen is devastated but bucks up and has since, with help, started a Facebook event promoting sane bicyclist regulations in Minneapolis.
Thursday is take our possessions to Henry’s Auction house day and Joey has volunteered to cruise up from his home in Rogers to help with that as well. It is a very emotional day for Mary as she is very attached to our stuff but we have nowhere to store it and it isn’t worth renting a unit. She does agree with what our friend Kevin said, “If you have to set up a household again you can probably get it all from Craig’s List for what you’ll get for your stuff.” My sister Cheryl, a professor at the U of MO, has driven up from Columbia to join us this afternoon and she claims some of our old video VHS tapes. She doesn’t have a cell phone yet, or ever will, she says.
Friday is intense party prep for Mary and Helen and a motherly “honey-do day” for me, but it is interrupted at midday by a call for Helen. Her ride to Alexandria for the reviewal and funeral has changed from this evening to right now and Mary runs her out to the interstate for that rendezvous. So at 5:00 I head over to Judy’s for happy hour sans Mary who, without Helen’s help is really behind the 8 ball and she is too freaked out to take the time even for this tradition.
Andy, Judy, Bruce Smoking Cubanos
I arrive at Pete and Judy’s, returning their pickup, precisely at 5 and I see I am the first to arrive, other than son Joey who has never been late to a party in his life. Judy has set out a great assortment of appetizers, the chief of which is venison sausage. She has this all set up on her patio out the kitchen door and facing our leased-out house across the yard. It is a little weird to be partying with our house, someone else’s home, in the background. Eli, my football player nephew shows up and we quickly organize a group to load the hoop onto Kevin’s trailer. You see, unlike most portable BB hoops the base of this one is not filled with water, but sand. I had told Eli that it weighs, literally, at least 400#. After we and three others heave the thing onto the trailer, he does not argue.
The weather has been holding all week and this evening it is sunny and warm, a lucky break for Minnesota in May and the prediction for tomorrow is the same. The usual suspects are on hand, including Brad and Amy, Neil’s best friends. Everyone is taking it easy, conserving energy for the big day tomorrow.
Saturday dawns bright and we are elated that the weatherman has come through for us as we have had previous
May 17ths in sleet. Mary and I start filling coolers and loading them into ma’s Buick Century. We stop at Coborn’s grocery for fresh produce on the way and we are at Kevin and Rosie’s at exactly 10. Eli is right behind me and at 10:30 Joey appears with a portion of his gang so we do what ends up being a controlled drop of the hoop onto Kevin’s driveway, but no damage is done, to person or property. Then with me at the helm and Joey and the gang in attendance we take Kevin’s suburban and trailer to the rental place where we are
lucky
enough to get a pink portapotty.
Shortly after getting back some of the older, that is our generation starts showing. From our hometown of Princeton come Bonnie, Mary Fran (her husband Ike motorcycles over later) and Mary’s best friend, Deb R. And a surprise entrance is made by Anton of Boulder, Bonnie’s son who grew up with our kids. Sammy, our oldest and just in from NH, runs with arms flailing, screaming “Antoooooooon” to give him a big hug.
It’s noon and usually the official start of May 17th but Helen is not back from Alex yet so Mary delays on setting out the food but it is time to let the games begin. Kevin has a huge backyard with horseshoe pits, so in addition to the hoops and shoes, there is a badminton setup and the kids are also playing some goofy game of knocking a beer can off a stick with a Frisbee. I don’t know this game’s name, if it has one. I enlist Bonnie to take on Kevin and Drew (of Joey and the gang fame) in
horseshoes. As Kevin and I are giving each
Bonnie and Drew
other crap at our pit, Drew, evidently, just can’t help himself and is applying his wiles to Bonnie because about midgame Bonnie beckons me and meeting her half way and she says to me, “Where did you find this kid? He’s hitting on me, this old lady hasn’t felt like this since15!” I laugh and give a thumbs up to Drew.
There is a steady stream of people arriving now and Mary decides to start serving food about 1:30 and again it is another gastronomic delight. Mary and her serving crew of Rosie, Judy, Sam’s Annah, Joey’s Meryah and their roommate Lauren set out about 20 dishes ranging from Porketta to vegan potato salad to spring rolls with peanut sauce. Everyone dives in.
Helen and fiancé Caleb arrive about 2:00 and immediately everyone gathers around her and our immediate family for the Neil tribute which she conducts. Originally this was planned for our traditional noon start when only intimates are present but now there are easily 30 people in the circle but Helen does a terrific job with her theme being May 17th has been more of a sharing time for our family than even Christmas and with that being the case Neil has always been the May 17th Santa Claus. Some of us tell Neil stories and Helen makes sure to reference his famous farts. Then we gather around an ash tree and at the base Mary pours out a can of MGD, Neil’s favorite beer and my sister Cheryl empties a small container of Neil’s ashes and the Tribute is over.
Newlyweds Robert and Lynn
Our close friends and newlyweds Robert and Lynn make the scene so Mary and I quickly grab our gift bag containing matching Mérida Safari hats, a Living in Mérida book, and a bottle of Xtabentun, a Mayan liqueur. They are practically glowing in their newfound marital bliss.
As I am watching the kids warm up for BB, I get my surprise visit. I see strolling across the road my good friend Tim with whom I had left several Skype voice mails with no response. I knew that Tim had
survived his stint amongst the Jack Pine savages of Deerwood, MN and had moved to Menomonie, WI but did not know that he had bettered his standard of living somewhat, having moved out of his sister’s extension cord powered attic. I am happy for him. He is rightly proud to be a Menomonite as there is always some bar there serving buck beers.
As we’re getting caught up I see a couple of familiar cars pull up. It is my dream team! I had been cocking off on the May 17th Rules of Engagement movie evite that this Near Dark divx year, the old guys were going to beat the kids in BB which hasn’t happened in many a moon. But I wasn’t sure my Alexandria ringers would actually make it. I most
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enthusiastically greet my dream team and their wives: Dave and Bev, Scott and Sue, and Darrin and Kathy. Scott, in his youth was a starting DII shooting guard and still plays pickup BB every noon hour at the rec. Dave is a 6’2” great all around athlete and Darrin is a 250# former semi pro rugby player. I think we’ll put him in the low post. After we get settled and get a few beers in our bellies the kids give us the court for warm-ups. Darrin is not feeling so fleet of foot with his sandals, but we just need him to take up space down there against Sam’s best friend, 220# personal trainer Pete. The game begins and it is a hard fought 4 on 4. Sammy’s college roommate Bryan (who will get his 10 yr pin next year) has his hands full with Scott and we win 11-9 by virtue of his three long bombs in row. There’s high fives all around and the kids want a rematch but we’re too busy
Scott, Darrin, Dave, and Bruce - We are the Champions!
celebrating. Mary takes team pix of us as I am singing “We are the Champions” at the top of my lungs. The kids are depressed because they, led by Sam, cannot talk my team into a rematch. It is small consolation to Sam, my promise of a best of three next May 17th, as he will have to listen to my crowing for a full year.
The party progresses and in the late afternoon I see my dream team off as well as my old friend and partner Deb, who had driven over in her new Lotus. Menomonie Tim and Neil’s best friend Brad join me and it is Brad’s bright idea to see what it would be like to sit in the driver’s seat of the Lotus. We all take turns and we all have to be helped out, causing near hysterical laughter from Deb.
It’s time for Brad and Amy to leave and as is our custom Brad and I kiss each other full on the lips. This is not as much fun as it used to be, as the shock value has diminished considerably.
The setting sun finds Kevin tuning up his professional sound system for patio dancing. At full dark someone lights a fire in Kevin’s awesome paver surrounded fire pit. I wander from group to group and start to make my way towards the fire pit where I see my friend Tim sitting and I realize that I probably cannot make my tongue move fast enough to keep up with his banter. I head the other way towards our bedroom in the basement noting that it is 1:30 and none too early to be hitting the sack.
I awake, sprawled across the bed with all my clothes on and Mary is curled up next to me, attired similarly. We groggily roll out, feeling much better than we deserve. Upstairs we find Tim, who’d slept under the 40° stars and Helen, both making claim that they were the first ones up. I scoop some leftover potato salad into my mouth for some healthy breakfast nourishment and get to work in cleaning up Kevin and Rosie’s house, garage, and yard. I find Lauren has nearly finished with the garage and when I turn the corner to the back yard I see a tent city. I count 11 tents in the back corner of the yard. Only a few have rousted. Quickly the cleanup is done and it time to do what I have been avoiding until now. And I do see enough manpower to do it; load the hoop. I gather the five of us that this requires. One of Helen’s buddies, a short, slight guy helps with me in the front and we heave it onto Kevin’s trailer. I am impressed with this little guy and tell him, “You’re a lot stronger than you look!” which does not come off as near the compliment I intended. Right exactly then, with impeccable timing Joey shows up and he has felt better. Next we load Neil’s famous picnic table for transport back to Drew’s place for safekeeping and I pick my accomplices for this: Joey, Sammy and their three biggest friends. These duties go well but with another scary “controlled drop” once more, at Pete and Judy’s. Luckily, once
again, no damage done. We gas and return Kevin’s Suburban and trailer and once back I encourage the partiers to vacate the premises. Kevin has been a great host, but I’m quite sure he is anxious to have his house back. Everyone is invited to Drew’s house for the traditional “Damage Assessment” that follows every May 17
Lords of Dogtown download th The Art of Self Defense full movie . At Neil’s picnic table we drink beer and regale each other with tales of the prior day. Late in the afternoon with fond farewells we all head our separate ways, many of us not to see each other again until next May 17th.
The rest of our visit back to Minnesota is split between Mary’s mother’s house in Princeton, Joey’s house in Rogers, and a lot of time at the family cabin near Lake Mille Lacs, which has recently been remodeled into a modern house while retaining the charm of the log cabin that it is.
It’s getaway day, Sunday, May 31st, and I am up at sunrise
on this gorgeous day. Captive Lake is without a ripple and there is not a cloud in the sky. With Joey, I smoke a cigar on the deck overlooking the lake and while sipping a Bloody Mary I think that this is near to paradise and wouldn’t it be perfect to summer here, but that is not in the cards.
After breakfast, Helen and Caleb haul us to Lindbergh Intl and amidst hugs and kisses we are off, back to our home in México.
Whoa, that was the longest post yet, so an extra hearty thanks is bestowed upon you, gentle reader, for hanging in there. Bruce and Mary are now settled into their Mérida routine, minding the monster house that they are house-sitting and working nearly every day, much to their satisfaction. As always, Bruce appreciates any and all feedback. Hasta pronto.
