Memories of St. Louis

 

 

 

 

 

Last week was not my first time in St. Louis. My brother Jack and his family lived in St. Louis for seventeen years. In 2013 their youngest son Danny graduated from high school. Early in the year his wife Anne interviewed for a teacher’s position in Virginia and got the job. Most of her family was living in the area so she wanted to be closer to them. Jack is a business consultant working for a firm in St. Louis however a few of his co-workers were living elsewhere themselves so he let his boss know that they were planning move to Virginia which was fine with them. While Anne is teaching Jack works out of their home. He does a few return trips every year to St. Louis. With Danny’s graduating it was good timing to make the move.

During the seventeen years they lived in St. Louis I visited there several times on my vacations. So I visited them in St. Louis when Danny graduated in 2013. That trip I visited them for a week and the night before the graduation we went out for dinner and then after the kids and I stopped for ice cream. On the way back to their place warnings went off about a tornado possibly coming. It was the first time I had ever been in where warning signal for tornado happened. We do not get such things in Washington State. When we arrived back at their place we immediately went to the basement. We stayed there until warning signals concluded. I would say it was about two hours in time. It is an interesting way to become closer with your family that is for sure. A couple of the kids had their computers with them so they could track the signs of the tornado. It did not hit St. Louis though some of the outline areas did get hit and some damage. Danny’s graduation went without a hitch but other graduations in the area had to be postponed and change venues because of damage.

The weekend after the graduation Danny had a soccer tournament in Springfield, Missouri which is about a three hour drive from St. Louis so Jack, Danny and I went to there for the tournament. It was nice to see Danny play in three soccer matches. His team did not win the tournament but I certainly enjoyed watching him play since I never had seen him play soccer before.

Another part of going to Springfield on the way I said that I wondered if there would be a sign coming into Springfield where the Simpson’s would be welcoming us to the city. Jack and I laughed because that really did happen. Danny being a teenager after all was not amused by my sense of humor in that occasion. I found it fun to see another part of Missouri as well. I returned home to Gig Harbor, Washington on the following Tuesday.

I had been to St. Louis before Danny’s graduation. I would say I visited them three or four times either at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The previous trip was seven years before at Christmas. I saw them all in Boston for my niece’s college graduation and marriage plus a couple years later for Robbie’s graduation from Harvard. All four of the children went to Harvard just like Jack and Anne did too.

What I remember most about the trip at Christmas that year was Leslie, Robbie and Danny took me to a park to go ice skating. I only had ice skated once before so I did not do a very good job falling all over the place. The primary problem was my skates not working properly around my ankles. I tried to get another size that worked better but they had no skates that fit for me. Also on the trip their grandfather Walter was visiting as well. He actually left a couple days before Christmas. The family had an old piano that was not working very well so Walter and I decided to go into together and buy a keyboard for them to use. The whole family knew how to play so it made perfect sense. Boy did the kids enjoy playing the keyboard when they opened the package. Besides opening other presents and having a fine dinner that is really all I remember of that trip. I visited them a couple other times at Thanksgiving during the seventeen years they lived in St. Louis. I am not sure whether I will have the opportunity to visit St. Louis since they no longer live there but you never really know. Very good fond memories and I will certainly remember last week at Ian and Helen’s wedding.