Family and Fun

We had a weekend filled with family, so the best kind of weekend!

Saturday was the Brehmer family reunion.  We had a good turnout, good weather, and a good time.  Hopefully in two years when we do it again, it will be just as good and fun! Maybe that will be the year that we all descend upon Cousin Dean's resort in Gila Hot Springs, New Mexico. We could rip it up in the Southwest! Worth pondering, anyway.

Sunday was a day at my mom’s with everyone pitching in to get things packed, donated, or discarded in preparation for her move to Wisconsin.  In amongst some of the trash, there were treasures to behold.

One such case is a stack of letters I found among old photos.  They are letters that my dad wrote to his folks when he was stationed in Germany when he was in the army as well as a couple that his mom and sisters wrote back to him.  I will make copies for my brothers and cousins to have but thought I would share some of them with you.

This is the first letter--postcard--he wrote back home after entering the service.  It is dated April 11, 1956:

Hi,

We had a swell trip.  Four of us went to supper, just got back.  I and a guy from New Auburn, Minn, are in my room writing in the Minnesotan Hotel.  Lowell Narveson and I have been getting along pretty good.  I think we are going to Arkansas but don’t think it will be tomorrow yet.  I’ll write later,

Love,

Foot

P.S.  I have to call Eileen yet

A couple of things.  He signed the letter “Foot” because his nickname from a teenager on was Bigfoot.  He’s the one Bigfoot I was never afraid of.  

He got this nickname while helping a pastor move in or out of the parsonage, and someone told him “Don’t put your big foot where it doesn’t belong.”  It’s not because he actually had big feet.

The name stuck hard enough that: the prefix for his registered Holsteins was Footprint Farms; if I have to find out if someone I've met from the old neighborhood knew my dad all I have to do is say "Bigfoot" and it will trigger their memory; and my kids called my mom and dad Grampa and Gramma Foot always.

The things I take away from this are (1) he was proud to serve his country and make the best of it with new friends while he did and (2) he missed his family.  Eileen was one of his sisters; Shirley was the other.  Then there were two brothers:  Marvin and Jerry.  

In today’s world of instant communication, no cursive writing being taught in elementary school anymore, and fewer and fewer intact nuclear families, this little bit of yesteryear within my own family made me smile through the tears.

I will share more of Dad’s letters in the days ahead because I always thought he was a pretty great guy, and I think you’ll come to like him as well through his words.  

Maybe, just maybe, I can fill in some of that family history I was always too busy to listen to as a kid.

Images used:
http://www.gistfamilyreunion.com/clients/8/8c/8cbf0a40baaab9dd4734ff2cdbb1e120/8356824_org.png
http://www.clker.com/cliparts/P/G/B/e/l/g/footprint.svg