Wander project November 2005 (Greenwood IN).

The past is the past. It happened. It, along with the dust and the pictures has been stored now for well at least ten years. Remember the care with which you packed the box as you put the past away? Scanning all our pictures, and then sharing them in the family history project forces me to go through those boxes on the past. Yes, they are smaller now. Fewer actual pictures, just extra hard drives with copies of images and movies. The memories as well, stored in my brain wander around with me. I remember the first time I met Les and Joan Ralstin. I started dating their daughter Barbara in 1990. The story is quite funny, my friend tried to set us up, but I was dating someone else at the time.

We, the person I was dating at the time, broke up. Shortly after that, my roommate/best friend invited my future wife over to our house for dinner. He never showed up that night. He was working. Later he would admit that he was setting us up and making sure we had time alone. Neither of us has been alone since that night. We were dating at the end of that night, engaged at the end of that month and married nine months later. In the middle of that period, I got to meet Les and Joan. They were the kind of people that would do anything to help people, and they did. They had both lived in Bloomington Indiana for many years. Les worked for AT&T, and then later Indiana Bell before retiring. Joan worked for Bloomington Hospital.

They retired in Hot Springs Arkansas. That was where I went, with my then future wife to meet them for the first time.

The pictures here are around Thanksgiving 2005 in Greenwood Indiana. I miss having the two of them over for Thanksgiving. I suspect they would have loved Thanksgiving in Maryland. They loved joining us in Indiana. There are pictures in those boxes of the past that make you sad. The pictures with Les and Joan Ralstin make me sad now, they are no longer with us. No more smiles, pats or jokes no one really ever heard. No more golfing and no more being called a pill. I miss them from time to time. But I remember them always!