Famous in BEC. Amy Wilde: Atmosphere

I have read Dear Abby forever. FOREVER. I loved each morning opening the paper and seeing her 50's haircut, and her solid words of advice. I remember thinking, I would like to see my picture and words in print someday. Well, I finally got the courage up to take in some of my sample columns into the Box Elder News Journal...and after a bit of a wait, and some persistence...I have my own column!! The editor is going to let me have a monthly column, and I could not be more thrilled!!!! Thank you to all of my friends and family who have supported me in this little dream. You are my best writing inspiration. :) The column name is Atmosphere. Named for the air we create around us, for the motion we make when we move, for the wind that carries our thoughts, and for the vast amounts of feeling in this universe. I am so excited to keep writing!! If you are interested you can read my first few columns by clicking this link:
http://www.benewsjournal.com/opinion.html

Wheat and Beet Days!

Toots and I decided to run the W&B 10K this year. It was a great morning for a run, with lots of clouds and a great location. We loved it! I am still not as speedy as before I had Maggie, but it is still so much fun. I am glad that Toots is my running buddy! It is so fun to have someone to do these races with. After the race, Toots went home and I met the kids and Kory to watch Emma ride her horse in the W&B days parade. My goodness she can ride 'em pretty. She really is so confident and she just loves her horse. It is fun to see her growing up into such a little lady.

DRC

There are few times in your life when you gather such attention and mass amounts of old retired people as when you are in an RV park full of double axle shiny RVs worth more than our first and current home combined, and you are trying desperately to get a rock-chuck out of his comfy home next to your 'tranny' aka transmission. Such was the day last week, when after a fun afternoon exploring Yellerstone, and going to the IMAX movie about Bears, we saw a rock-chuck run up under the engine of the truck. The truck we had borrowed from my dear father in law, and the truck which we were trying SO hard to be careful with despite having bad luck. So what in the hay is a rock-chuck?? Well, I will tell you. They are yellow-belly marmots. Marmots choose to dig burrows under rocks, and next to trannies in nice shiny trucks because predators are less likely to see their burrow. Predators include wolves, foxes, coyotes, and my husband. The marmot is also an omnnivore, eating grass, leaves, flowers, fruit, grasshoppers, bird eggs, and the important firewall insulation pad that protects a truck from heat. Ahhh Yellow Belly Marmot. Damn Rock Chuck (Kory's words, not mine), or the DRC. Unwanted Hitchhiker. How easy we thought it would be to get rid of you. We tried everything, from hosing the thing down, to jabbing it with a stick, to spraying enormous amounts of 'OFF' repellent on him. Nothing. NOTHING. So, the next morning we called in the big guns. That's right, Fish and Game. At first, it was easy to see that this nice guy packin heat did not totally believe us. He crawled right under the truck, face up and starting poking around. When the DRC chirped, the guy from Fish and Game jumped two inches off the ground. He was a believer. Soon the geriatric nation was piling out of their RVs, setting up lawn chairs, and watching the free entertainment of Kory, the Man from Fish and Game (no relation to the Man from Snowy River), and the nice man from Canada. All three men worked for close to an eternity, each one taking a different angle on the DRC, and FINALLY after copious amounts of man effort...the DRC ran...he ran and ran until he found a new home...right up under a nice, shiny, double axle, 40 foot RV.

losing John Wayne.

On May 10, 1969 John Wayne came to town. Not by train, or by automobile, but instead by helicopter, to a cheering crowd of 28,000 spectators. Mr. John Wayne. Mr. True Grit. Of course, this all happened before I was born, but I have heard the story many times of how he came to Promontory to watch the Golden Spike meeting of the rails reenactment on the 100 year anniversary. A special program that depicts the events that took place on the historic day of east meets west. My father in law, who was out in Promontory at the right place and time, approached Mr. Wayne and asked him for his autograph. Imagine that, standing there next to one of the greatest Western actors of all time while he scratched his name on a piece of paper for you. I can just hear his rough voice, and see his dusty cowboy hat. It must have been a sight of a lifetime. My father in law went home and put the autograph in the safest place he could think of. And all these years, he has never been able to find it again. He turned the house upside down more than once trying to find what inevitably seemed lost. One of his most valuable possessions indeed, and possibly gone forever. It is easy to relate. I think how easy it is for us to put our most treasured possessions in places that we can’t find them. Our best words. Our highest praise for our children. Our deepest love for our spouses. Our hidden talents, and biggest dreams. All locked up nice and safe. Someone once told me if you want to keep from losing something, put it where you can find it. So today, don’t hide your treasures so deep that they can’t be found. Don’t lose your John Wayne. Because if you do, all your life, you will wonder what in the world ever happened to it.

“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.” - John Wayne

three firsts in one day.

Toots, Me, and Hayden in the N Ogden Cherry Days Race

Something happens when you are about to turn 35. You start to get a little crazy. You start doing the math and realizing that indeed you are half of seventy, but not quite at mid-life. For some of us you start thinking all of your life has been spent in cautious steps and little risk, and that it is time to finally let go and have some fun! Thankfully, I went through this phase a few years ago so I can now wisely guide my little sister Tami aka Toots through this coming of age. Toots has jumped in with both feet, quite literally, into running. I love it! I have a running buddy to do races with and to cheer for. Running is a solitude sport, but there is really nothing like having someone there on race day with you. To share the jitters. To stand in the potty line. To encourage. To cross the finish line with.
On Saturday Toots did her first 5K, and did a great job! One first down, two to go.
After the race, it is tradition to go to McDonald's for breakfast. Honestly, it is usually just me pulling in to the drive through, but still, it is tradition. Toots had never been! There are very few things I like more than a #2 breakfast at McDonald's house. Toots ate her Mcbreakfast and liked it! Two firsts down, one to go!
We made it to North Fork and had a great BBQ with the fam and then everyone sans me and the baby decided to go on a hike. My hubs jokingly offered Toots some Mnt Dew and she actually drank some! I can think of nothing else that has ever taken my husband so off guard in the thirteen years we have been married. Way to go Toots for letting loose! Three firsts in one day. Each one as significant as the other. Perhaps trivial. But maybe not. It was one of the finest days ever.

chasing light.

I am not sure how they do it in Alaska. Going without light for so much of the day, for so much of the year. This winter has gone on forever here, and each day all of us look at the forecast to see if there will be light through the clouds. Most of the Spring has been gray. Undeniably gray.

Light makes the photo. It is what turns the colors on and makes a face glow with radiance. Light reflected just right can eliminate shadows, and brighten the eyes. The best light, as any photographer knows, is the first light in the morning and the last light of the evening. I once read up on tips from a famous photographer, who will only shoot portraits the last half hour before the sun goes down. When I put this advice into practice I see some of the most amazing pictures develop. Darkness chasing light. Those last minutes of light hanging on before the night is filled with stars. Soon the sky is filled with smoky gray, and the light is chased out of the night. However, each morning, light wins again and re-appears along the east chasing darkness out of the early signs of day.

*Thank you to my friend Andrea for allowing me to take these bridals of her.

some would say.

For all my life I have watched my Dad dress in ARMY green, to serve his country, to serve this people of the United States of America. He did so with honor, loyalty, dedication, and love. For 38 years, 6 months and 4 days he served this country in the form of a Chaplain. Someone who has to catch the families of the fallen. A mind that must know the right thing to say when all else seems to not make sense. A heart that must love the broken. The Chaplain is the person that comforts, that gives hope, and guides. He is an American Soldier. Some would say that loyalty to a job is a thing of the past; that dedication to an employer is rare to be found. But I would say, look to the American Soldier. Some would say that true love is hard to find. But I would say, ask the America Soldier how they feel when they see the American Flag flying on home soil. Some would say that fashion makes the man. I would say, watch the American Soldier dressed in uniform, and the man he becomes. To all the men and women serving our nation, and especially to my Father, Chaplain Colonel Lynn Humphreys, I would say...thank you.