Stella's Dream Car

Myndy and Jason bought a new car recently. Stella asked, "Is it pink?" Myndy said " No, it is black." Stella said, "I want a pink car with a racoon on the back!'' Myndy said, "Do you know someone that has that?" and Stella said, "yes, Grandpa Myles."

A Myles Olson Day

Today was a Myles Olson day, that's for sure. Ellie got up early and participated in a litter pick up with her Girl Scout troop. My dad would have loved seeing her help her community. Later in the day we did yard work, raked and got our patio furniture out. As we all worked together in the yard I thought of how much dad used to love it when we had a family work day. He'd get us up early and divvy out the jobs. One of us would mow, someone else would trim and someone else might wash cars. Then we'd grill out and bask in the success of our great work day.

George Jones

This morning as I was driving to a meeting I got the news that George Jones passed away. As I listened to his haunting voice tears streamed down my face. I vividly remember mom and dad listening to his album with Tammy Wynette and dancing in the living room. Rest in peace, George. I hope you and dad are having a good old time together.

Wild Kingdom

Today I got a call from mom. It seems that spring in Thief River Falls means lots of wild animals coming back. She's got skunks digging up the yard looking for grubs, mice in the basement, and the chipmunks are back too. If dad were here he'd have already taken care of all these pests. Every day reminds us of how much he did for each of us.

Packing Up

Tonight I am packing up for a trip to San Antonio to the International Reading Association conference. The thing I am missing most is my call to dad. On nights like this he would always run through the list of questions: Do you have cash? Where are you staying? Who is going to be with you? and always "And they are paying you for this, huh?" Missing you tonight and every night, dad!

One Year Ago Today

Today marks that one year anniversary of the day we lost dad. It's hard for me to believe it's been a year but in some ways it seems even longer than that. I talked with mom today and she shared that my sister Katy was doing what dad would have loved...thanking everyone who helped her get through the year. I feel the need to do the same thing. My friend, Cindy Unger, who knows about loss always talks about seeing God in the people you are given to get through the hard times in your life. I have been blessed with so many of you who have walked with me through some sad days.... Thank you to my mom, my editor in chief, and my rock. It's a rare night that she doesn't read and proofread the blog post. We can get through anything together,right mom? Thanks to my sisters...for phone calls, stories, and our collective memory of dad. I think he would be proud of all three of us in different ways. Thanks to wonderful friends..especially my dear friends Jane, Peggy and Cindy who have been down this road of grief and loss and have shared their wisdom so generously. Thanks to my faithful blog readers for having patience with my musings and silly stories. It sure helped me to write about the life my dad led. When I first started this blog project I thought I would try to write one story a day for a year. I was sure I would run out of stories somewhere along the line but people kept stopping me to tell me what my dad meant to them. Little things kept popping up that reminded me of dad so I was able to keep writing. Although today marks one year I have decided that I'll keep writing the blog. Not every day...but I'll post stories as they come up. There's no doubt that there are more than 365 stories about my wonderful dad. If you have a story you'd be willing to share, please send it to me. I am always surprised at how many people my dad impacted with his kindness and generosity.

Little Forester

This year Grandma Susie went a little overboard for Easter. The kids got huge baskets and Stella got a special tree that her stuffed animals fit in. A few days later she asked Myndy for a scissors. Myndy wondered if this was really the best idea but she decided to give it to her. When she came downstairs she realized that Stella was trying to "prune" one of the branches off the stuffed tree. Just like Grandpa!

Erik's Search

We are home from our big adventure up north. Anna has been preparing her show and tell report. "Hello, my name is Anna Willman and on my spring break I saw: 208 deer, 4 swans, 8 wild turkeys, 20 geese, and 4 rabbits. I'm ready for comments and questions." The other kids also had a great time at the cabin and in Thief River but Erik's trip started out a little rocky. We journeyed to the cabin last Friday and had an uneventful trip up. Aside from fighting over which video to watch the kids were pretty good. When we got to the cabin Erik got out and started looking around. "I have to find Grandpa Myles!" He put into words what all of us feel as we turn onto Intrepid Drive. After a bit of looking around he remembered that Grandpa Myles was with Jesus and agreed to come in to the cabin.

3 Daughters

After spending a week at home in Thief River Falls I was once again reminded of my dad's wisdom. Many of you know that the home I grew up in is quite small and has only one bathroom. When we started to get into the teenage years where lots of time was spent in the bathroom my dad installed a mirror in each bedroom. This way we could all take plenty of time to get ready but we did not hog the bathroom from everyone else.

Grandma Vi's Memories

Yesterday I spent some time going through the chest of photo albums and found dad's baby book. This remembrance is from Grandma Vi in her own words in the section called Mother's Notes: Myles really was a daddy's boy. He liked to suck his thumb especially when he felt rayon material. He was real nice and quiet in church so long as he could hold Daddy's tie in one hand and then suck his thumb. His happiness all came to a stand still one day when Daddy and I were out shopping. Myles was sleepy and started walking after Daddy through the stores sucking his thumb and holding on to the tail end of Daddy's rayon jacket. Daddy looked at me and said, "Vi, this is going to have to stop." So we went to the drug sore for some bad tasting medicine called "No Thumb". After a couple of days the habit was broken much to our surprise.

Boys and their Trucks

We are spending the week at mom and dad's place in Thief River Falls and today was clean out the basement today. Ok, maybe not the whole basement but we did tackle the store room. Please remind me that I should get rid of things every five years or so. I'm pretty sure the three air conditioners were not essential but my dad loved to save money and kept everything for their value in "parts". The best find for Erik was two toy trucks that belonged to dad when he was a little boy. There's something timeless about a toy truck.