Exactly forty-nine years ago last week, Richard, who prides himself on creating surprises, blindfolded me after our wedding reception in Montpelier, Idaho where I was born and raised and took me off to a “surprise place" for our honeymoon. After driving around in circles for a while to confuse me, and then driving for what seemed like forever (about 45 minutes in reality), he got me out of the car, carried me to a mystery spot, put me down and took off my blindfold. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to see that I was standing in a small plot of land filled with sagebrush.
Probably visibly, not happy too about the prospect of camping on our honeymoon, Rick turned me around to see that about 50 feet away at the end of a small dirt road was the shore of Bear Lake.
The first words that he said when he saw my amazed/puzzled/slightly disappointed face, was, “This is our land!”
“How could that possibly be??? We have no money?” I blurted out.
Smugly he announced, “Your mom gave me your insurance policy and I turned it in and bought this little plot of land for $1200.
I must admit that the thought flew through my mind that we might have used that money for our imminent first year in Boston where we would be starving students at the Harvard Business School. But I was at the same time I was immediately pleased to know that we would now have a bit of my childhood in our possession forever!
In hindsight, it was one of the best decision he ever made! That little plot of land was the seed that has bloomed again and again over the next almost 50 years and grew into something beyond our wildest dreams!
Every year we become a little more grateful for our good fortune to have expanded from that little plot of land to a family compound where we now gather for reunions. Without boring you with the details of all it takes to create a successful family reunion, you be able to see what has become of that “big surprise” all those years ago. Now that our kids have families of their own, complete with creative kids who can help with the planning and execution, our reunions that started on that little plot of land many years later have exploded like fireworks and have become a world of wonder!
The Theme of our eunion this year, created and directed by the Shumway Family was TURNING THE HEARTS! It was a wonderful celebration of our ancestors. Just four this time: My Mom Hazel Jacobson and my Dad Roy Jacobson and Rick’s Mom Ruth Eyre and his Dad Dean Eyre
I began to try to load the few pictures I took on this blog when I realized that Shawni had already posted all the details so beautifully with the help of her fabulous eye for beauty and her terrific camera. I immediately realized that the best thing I could do recreate what happened this year at the reunion is to send you to Shawni’s blog (71toes.com). Then, on Charity’s delightful blog (dripping withpassion.blogspot.com) I found some of the same pictures but many additional ones including additional events before and after the reunion.
For a look on Shawni’s blog at the fun we had “Turning our Hearts” click HERE . And for even more on Charity’s blog click HERE.
What an enormous blessing this place has been to us! I have to admit that it takes a lot of hard work from all of us to bring all this to pass. And it’s worth every minute and dollar spent! It is a delight to be able to spend our money with the kids instead of worrying about leaving it to them after we’re gone! The last sunset as we left the lake for the summer was packed with so many beautiful memories along with the fabulous reality that no one threw up or broke an arm this year. Icing on the cake!
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2 comments:
Your mother gave your husband your money and your husband decided to spend it himself! I’m not sure if I am more mad at your mother or husband. Glad you forgave him and I hope you developed financial ground rules and stuck with them after that.
What a story!!! That land is priceless! What memories.
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