Home, there’s really no place like it. This week’s column is basically the last thing I have to do on this week’s saturation issue this Friday afternoon before turning my wheels north toward my home of Greenbush, Minn. By the time you all read this, I will be back in this area, but I just wanted to highlight this upcoming visit, as it’s always special for me to go back home.
Since my move to this area on Nov. 21, 2024, I’ve made the five-hour trek back home to Greenbush three times, and the first two times were during the holiday seasons in November and December.
It’s not that I wouldn’t have loved going back more often, but that five-hour trip is a killer sometimes. I mean, I’ve taken Highway 10 so many times in my life that I could do the drive in my sleep, but it’s still a long one. I’ll definitely be alternating often between music and audio books, that’s for sure. Besides the trip being a long one, I just haven’t had the time, always having something on the schedule that fills up the weekend. With a trip like this one – losing about 10 hours on the road – you need at least a weekend. Well, I finally found an open weekend, and I can’t wait to get back home.
After paying for my tax appointment on that Saturday, I plan to have a little fun. The local softball team, the Gators, who I covered for years, is hosting one of its two annual tournaments on its beautiful four-field softball complex in Greenbush. The Gators have a rich softball tradition, and I give much credit to their long-time head coach, my former teacher and good friend Kent Christian. It was always a joy to cover his group, providing me with many lifelong memories.
With that said, it will be strange to not bring a camera to take action shots, and pull out my recorder to interview the coach post-game along that first-base line, but I think I’ll be able to handle it. It will be nice to just take in the action and visit with some people I just haven’t had the chance to talk to for a while. I hope it’s a nice spring day.
I also plan to sneak over to visit a former co-worker and lifelong friend, Mavis Gonshorowski. She and I are a couple of generations apart, but we truly are the greatest of friends. She is one of those individuals who taught me to enjoy those simple things in life. She doesn’t know I’m coming up yet, as I wanted to surprise her. I haven’t spoken to her since the day before I officially left town, back on Nov. 20, 2024. It was a tearful goodbye back then, and I look forward to catching up with her sometime over the weekend.
Fitting time in with my parents will of course be on the agenda, time to just relax and step away from the weekly grind. Even that time in the car, left to one’s own thoughts, is therapeutic. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to it, drive and all!