From a Scrub's Standpoint

Turns out Akron and Houston Baptist, and ‘ol Huskerland Bob have something in common.

The past couple of weekends we all felt like we’d been steamrolled.

Don’t get me wrong, these have been two very happy weekends. Long, exhausting (for an seasoned citizen) weekends.

The second of these centered around last Saturday. Knew it was coming, planned for it, still steamrolled me.

Our only nephew (cousin once removed, but we go with nephew), Matthew Corbin, married his lovely bride, Rose Dale, in Arnold last Saturday, 4 o’clock tip. Before I go any further I must add Huskerland Penni and I were accompanied by my sister, Aunt Rhonda, who now lives in Omaha. Rhonda has some training for her job first thing Saturday, so we didn’t leave our place until 10:30ish.

Perfect. Got time to hammer out my world famous (my world) Saturday Morning Quarterback.

And it was a newsy one, wasn’t it. Lots went on last Friday, and I did my best to hit the high points, in the process chewing up all my allotted time. (Less the trip to the bank and post office, of course.)

Somewhere in here, and now seems appropriate, I should mention we (not necessarily me, but whatever) decided to make this a one-day trip. Eight hours, back and forth, nice and neat. On the one hand I was OK with that because I needed (wanted) to be in my office Sunday morning to rap out the Huskerland top tens.

Then again, I could have done that on a laptop in a hotel room, just as well. Did I mention I would be the only driver in our vehicle? (Not that riding would have been any different/better since I can’t sleep then anyway. Huskerland Penni, that girl can sleep in a moving vehicle, you bet she can, like a champ!)

Let’s back up. None of this would have been a huge deal – eight-hour drive ain’t gonna kill anybody – except for my faithful companion…no, my seven-year-old Golden Retriever, Cooper. Great pooch, only member of my office staff, if you get my drift.

He heard something.

At 5:15.

This after I was up until 11:30 posting scores on this new home for Huskerland on the interweb. And not sure about you, but when I know I have to get up early the next morning I don’t sleep well at all. Just certain I’ll wake up too late.

Not last Saturday I didn’t.

Coop was in the living room, crying, like there was something afoot on the grounds. Turns out what he’d heard was the alarm on my phone, which I’d accidentally left on the arm of the sofa before, um, “retiring for the evening.”

(And just like that I felt like I’d been a scene from the movie Trading Places:

Coleman: “Why don’t you retire, sir? You’ve got a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”

Billy Ray: “Yeah… I think I will, uh, ‘retire.’”)

Anyhoo, that alarm had been set for the previous Saturday morning – remember Huskerland Jessie and competing in her high school alumni golf tournament that day? – and I thought I’d disabled it after the fact. Apparently I had not.

So now I am up earlier than expected, facing a newsier Saturday Morning Quarterback than expected in advance of our eight-hour round trip to my beloved home town. Lovely.

We got out of town on time, enjoyed a great drive out on Highway 92 – no traffic to speak of, Huskers were playing – and pulled into the parking area next to the Cliff Table cemetery, located between Merna and Arnold. Paid our respects to my maternal grandparents – Meredith and Lula (Lehmkuhler) Lilly, my great grandparents Frank and Rose Lilly, and my cousin David Lilly. Like all country cemeteries, this one is beautiful even in its four-months-after-Memorial Day-mowing sort of way.

We got to Arnold sort of on time, met up with my sister Becky and her husband, Larry Mora, meeting at The Exchange, a beautiful general store/coffee meeting sort of place right on the highway. From there we took a few laps around town, reminiscing about the good old days.

I graduated from Arnold High (you can look it up) in 1976; my sister Becky graduated the following year; my sister Rhonda attended Arnold High for one year before the family moved to Cozad, where she graduated in 1980. Our little sister, 55-year-old Roxanne (egads, man, 55!) attended kindergarten before the family move, graduating from Cozad High in 1988.

So, as you can see, that’s quite a span and we all enjoyed sharing our experiences, which were greatly varied. Good times.

The wedding was simple and lovely – simply lovely – and Matthew and Rose looked beautiful together. Matt’s not a talker (you’re correct, other side of the family) but both he and Rose wrote very beautiful vows, very touching. (My postgame advice to my nephew: that Rose is an ornery one, keep your head on a swivel, Matthew…)

In the pregame I had suggested we might be in-and-out at the reception, getting our time with the bridal party, Matthew’s parents, Jeff and Donna (Lilly) Corbin, included. I mean, what could possibly keep us in Arnold on a late Saturday afternoon?

Plenty. I will save you the gory details (doesn’t seem like it after this long, does it) but know that former Arnold High football coach Rod Johnson was in there somewhere, as was the great Dale and Donna Fletcher. In another lifetime the Fletchers were the leaders of our high school Campus Life meetings; they are great people who had a big impact on my young life, for real. Great to see them.

We got back to our place in Gretna at about 11 or so – the girls looked so peaceful sleeping like that – and the next morning Penn and I had a little coffee before I, all bleary-eyed, dug into those top tens. I did post them, right? It’s all a blur.

So, as you can see, it’s been quite a weekend. Still wobbly, but on task with Cooper’s annual physical here at 9 a.m. (Ironically, mine is Thursday. We have different doctors.) We will get back to football here in a bit, but keep me in your thoughts as I – yaaaawwwn! streeeetch!– negotiate my day.

Oh, and we’re out of coffee…