The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window
Let's Go Now
July 7, 2004
Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. I had all the windows open, hoping for the storm Geno the Weather Guy had been forecasting late last week. There was some rain early on, but it petered out and there was this lovely breeze blowing through the house. Since it was the last show of the season, I celebrated by getting a bottle of wine and sending the kids off to the Hansons' farm. Every year on the eve of the 4th, the Hansons have a bonfire out behind their old circular barn. The kids from town and neighboring farms are all invited for an evening of hayrides, volleyball, square dancing, and a wiener roast. The pastor usually shows up in time to scoop ice cream for the root beer floats and the kids gather 'round the fire and sing "Kum Bah Yah."
So I was at the sink slicing strawberries for a pie, trying to sing "Heart and Soul" along with Inga Swearingen but her voice can do things mine can only aspire to. The phone rang and I thought it was Mr. Sundberg so I said, "Hello, Mr. President" like Marilyn Monroe might have. Sometimes it makes him laugh, but most of the time I can hear his eyes rolling as he lets out a big old sigh. It wasn't him. It was Larry O'Leary calling to tell me I'd won the grand prize in the Small Town Daze raffle to raise money to paint the water tower. I apologized for calling him "Mr. President" and explained it was a private joke and he said it was better than "Oats" which has been his nickname since I can remember.
The prize was a week long Alaska cruise. It's a big prize for a small town raffle, but Genevieve Miller runs the travel agency and she headed up the whole shebang. I about tipped. Thing is, we can go whenever and Mr. Sundberg said, "Let's go now." So we're farming the kids out to their grandparents in Owatonna and I'm going shopping later today to buy a pair of binoculars for Mr. Sundberg and a pair of sunglasses for me. I may splurge on some new luggage, too. Or maybe I won't pack a thing.
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The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window Archive
- Take Heart
- A table full up with Christmas
- Gifts can be a challenge
- You have each other to love
- The gift of the story of Three Perfect Strangers
- Gemutlichkeit
- For many of the best things in life, a person has to wait in line
- The things we can't not do
- Never met a perfect person
- Just ask a question or two
- What I get in return?
- Listen awhile, and you'll hear it, too
- A day of good hard work
- New friends vs. old friends
- There will be joy like this again in my life
- A lonesome place to spend some time
- Whatever makes you grow is gonna hurt somehow
- Hold someone close to you today
- A Postcard from Mrs. Sundberg
- For goodness itself, thanks
- How blessed can a woman be?
- All about purpose and meaning
- As it should be
- This is where the party is
- Our wants have changed and our needs are few
- A day may be perfect, but we aren't
- Nice to have home to return to
- How time moves along
- Feet are a funny thing
- The Big Plunge
- Get your arms around the universe
- It's good to have each other
- May the Wild Rumpus continue
- Consider what is right
- Marks I have made
- I'd rather be unpredictable than predictable
- All of it together, all of us together
- Friends and laughter and grass stains
- May we all find pause
- Pure comfort
- I have my Mother's Day gift early this year
- I'll be more than happy to listen
- One Entire Day, a Snow Day
- When I say it's bedtime, that's what time it is
- Love is infinitely powerful
- Nice to be surprised now and then
- No reason to stock up for the duration
- What better way to spend an evening
- Full of questions
- So hard to grow up
- A Postcard from Mrs. Sundberg's
- The most right thing
- That Christmas Spirit
- A kind of hope
- What matters really is the thought
- We're complicated, we humans
- Tenderness and lightheartedness
- The storm is coming
- Alive in the best way
- A gentle spirit and good soul
- Don't want to miss no more
- Just the kind of day for hard work
- Nice to have a place
- I see the woman winning
- A mood affecting the body
- From there to here
- Nostalgia's door is flung wide open
- Toward the Next Thing
- The Big Cry
- Take some time and spend it
- The sleeper must awaken
- Patience brings good things
- The world is full of adventure
- Something to be said for the moment
- The land of Heat
Complete The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window Archive
