March madness in the Melius house
March is always kind of a crazy time in the Melius household. March 24, for example, is a birthday shared by Grandpa Melvin Polzin and son #2 Billy Melius, as well as wife Kim and my anniversary. And 2014 brought some historic numbers to our celebrations: Mel's 85th, Billy's 30th, and our 35th. And, yes, Mikell, all of this is just four days after your 22nd birthday.
Showers are one of those small-town wonders, when friends and family come together for a brief time to try and get to know one another again. For as life passes on so quickly, nothing really stays the same. Andy graduated in 2007 from GFW High School in Winthrop and met Sarah while both were students at Winona State University. Sarah's parents, Rhonda and Gary, live in Wisconsin. It all makes for some long travels -- there's no real quick drive from or to Traverse City, Michigan. It's a gorgeous place, from what I've been told, for the Winthrop Melius clan has yet to visit there. Hopefully, soon.
So, for the time being, we're left with shower time. It's still pretty much a woman's thing; I've never really understood that, and I'm sure traditions are changing in many places. In Winthrop, at Peace Lutheran Church and in most local churches, the ladies still steal the show. That's cuz, frankly, they work harder and plan better.
All I know is that the locals are still too kind and generous. The gifts young couples, like Andy and Sarah, bring home from these get-togethers are amazing. Andy used to play drums in the praise team at church, solidifying his place in Peace Lutheran folklore. And while Pastor Bob Miner remains one of my best friends and confidantes, I haven't been a member of the church for a few years. When searching for my spiritual values and principles, I discovered those beliefs aligned much closer to a Unitarian philosophy, so I moved on. But wife Kim still belongs, and her friends managed quite a show.
Close friend Rhonda Wilhelm helped piece this welcome table together, with a baseball theme. Since Andy's love for baseball remains strong, it seemed appropriate. And as Rhonda designed it, "Andy made quite a catch." Indeed.Andy and Sarah will be married June 21 in Winona.
This all comes less than a year after Billy married Jessica Spilde in St. Peter's Minnesota Square Park in a wonderful early fall celebration. It's never quite the same when some of the kids are not in attendance -- daughter Ambryn remained in Seattle, saving up points to make that June wedding. Any way you look at it, the times they are a-changing very fast. And while you so cherish these events and live for them, you still miss the kids. When you have six children, there are both so many memories and so much you miss of them.
But you also know there is no slowing down the clock. So you enjoy the times, note that your kids are moving on and smiling through most of it, and you hope for their safety and happiness. You never stop being Dad. And you hope they never stop being your kids.
