Memories and Candles
We decided on Tuesday’s plan several days earlier when we saw the forecast. Our sunny, 80+ degree weather was taking a nose-dive. With a high of 61 and a 90% chance of rain predicted almost all morning, it was a no-brainer. Tuesday would be “Walker Day.”
Walker Day is when all the gals (and sometimes a few of the guys) pile into our cars and drive half an hour south to Walker, Minnesota. It’s the epitome of a touristy lake-town, with gift shops galore and boutiques aplenty. We have our favorites: Tiger Lily’s, Jenny and Co., the General Store, Lundrigan’s, and of course, Christmas Point.
Both Beth and I realized that this day in Walker would be different than others. Not only is July 6 the one-year anniversary of our Dad’s death, but last year we were shopping in Walker when we received the call from our oldest sister Phyllis that Dad wasn’t going to make it. He had fallen and bumped his head that morning and we had been waiting to hear what the doctors had to say. The memories of that day leave an imprint on our minds that will remain for many years to come.
Dad loved Minnesota. He loved golfing on the green rolling hills. He loved fishing the cool, blue waters. But most of all, he loved spending time with Mom, his children, and grandchildren, his brothers, sister, in-laws, nieces, and nephews. The memories of Dad at the lake have already surfaced several times over the past few days, bringing smiles and laughter.
For example, when Tom and I wanted to spend time biking, or us women wanted to head off for a shopping day at Walker, Dad would always razz us by saying, “I thought this was a fishing vacation!” It took him a while to accept that not everyone loved fishing as much as he did, even if they did enjoy it to a point.
Although Dad wouldn’t have been excited about us women going shopping on Tuesday, we all piled in the Beth’s suburban and shortly after ten o’clock left for Walker. We found unique gifts and kitchen gadgets. We also found some special reminders of Dad/Grandpa.
As soon as I saw them, I knew we would have to buy them. Dad had owned a Christmas Tree farm and grew trees for his customers for fifty years. As soon as we walked into Christmas Point, the store in which we had to tell our girls the sad news a year ago on this very day, I saw a shelf of candles. White wax in clear jars with a black metal top, they were simply packaged. The labels named the scents. The first one to catch my eye was “Grandpa’s Trees.”
“Beth,” I said, “look. We have to get these.” And so we did. One for ourselves and some to share with our girls. A candle seemed the perfect way to remember Dad, whose light lives on in our memories of him.
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We wrapped up our shopping day with a new venture to Park Rapids. It was fun to find new-to-us gift shops, candy shops, and the “Minne-soda Fountain.” I had been to Park Rapids once or twice but we had never really explored this Minnesota town as a group before.
After the shops closed at 5:00 we drove over to Zorbaz to meet the guys–Tom, Bill, William, Zach, and Ollie had come in the car, while Seth had chosen to take the 50-mile ride on his bike. We filled up on pizza before heading home for a rousing game of Shanghai in which I reigned victorious!
