“It all started the day he brought home a broken helicopter.”
Little did I expect this from the petite and elegant woman sitting next to me during Christmas dinner at The Farm House Restaurant and Cantina. Being in her 90’s, I don’t know what I expected her to say, but not that her reserved and distinguished husband brought home a broken helicopter. I would’ve guessed he was a music professor at a prestigious university. A mathematician. A scientist. Possibly a jeweler. As the dinner conversation continued, I became even more intrigued.
Mr. and Mrs. Nonagenarian have been married just shy of 70 years. VST didn’t live to be 70. There are days that I wonder if I will. Seventy years is more than double the time VST and I shared together. Twenty years more than the time we knew each other. Just what secrets do these two share to explain their long lasting relationship? Living into their 90’s with rich and fulfilling lives, it’s obvious they still like each other.
Mrs. N, who is a great example of who I want to be if I DO make it to 90 is an amazing Christian, woman, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, friend, and so many more things I have yet to discover. She single handedly planned a sit down dinner for 100 at the Church a few weeks back. She baked over 15 deserts, all more beautiful than bakery shop quality and each yummy in a different way. Not simple recipes, these required steps, steps, and more steps.
Along with Slow Baked Beef Tri-Tip in Special Sauce, Baked Ham, Green Salad, Southern Fried Corn, Roasted Red potatoes, Maple Glazed carrots, Homemade Rolls and ooey gooey homemade Mac and Cheese, the following items were on the desert table. Peanut Butter Cake. Mandarin Orange Cake. German Chocolate Cake. Cheese Cake w/Strawberry Sauce. Pecan Pie w/Whipped Cream. Coconut Cream Pie. Chocolate Cream Pie. Lemon Meringue Pie. Apple Pie. Raspberry Mousse. Brownies. Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Filling Sealed with fudge, frosted with chocolate cream frosting and drizzled with a crackly chocolate. Mrs. N made all these desserts and each one was fresh. How she pulled this off is a puzzlement to everyone that enjoyed them.
Mrs. N is a seamstress, bar none. Every Sunday, she wears another creation all out of the finest fabrics and best designs. I don’t think she’s worn the same dress twice. All custom fit to her figure, she never has a hair out of place. Perfect makeup and accessories. It boggles the mind. When the N’s renewed their vows on their 65th anniversary, she sewed her own wedding dress. There is nothing this woman can’t do.
Lucky enough to sit next to her at The Farm House Restaurant and Cantina, I was all set to find out more about Mr. N. So quiet and gentlemanly, I have just recently met him. He, too, has an amazing twinkle in his eye, being two years past 90. Between the two of them, they raised a bushel of kids that all turned out pretty darn good. They all come home for Sunday dinner each week after the worship service. She cooks for everyone.
Mr. N is a Veteran of the World War II kind. Shy and quiet, he keeps those stories close to his heart. Real heroes don’t brag about what they did, because the heroic things they did were needed at the moment they were. Someone brave needed to step up and so they did. Real heroes are people good to know.
Getting back to our conversation, one day, according to Mrs. N, Mr. N brought home a broken helicopter. She wasn’t amused in the least, but even less so when, in the following days, he bought a box of helicopter parts for $500. This was a lot of money in those days, but to work he went. Before long, he had the bird running.
All repaired, the thing begged him to fly it, so he did. He learned very well on his own, but then needed to go the usual route and get his FAA approved pilot’s license, which he aced. His love for flying opened doors to a great career, and for many years, he taught countless others to fly, while fixing helicopters. In doing so, he even managed to meet John Wayne and Dean Martin, having more than a little to do with the movie, The Wrecking Crew.
As she told a few stories of his life, it was apparent to me that people of The Greatest Generation, were just that. GREAT. I hardly think they are many 20-Somethings that would find an old broken helicopter and then set out to identify the broken parts and replace them. Heck, many 20 years old’s have yet to learn to drive a car, let alone a helicopter.
The elders I grew up with fixed everything themselves. When things broke, people knew how to fix them in a flash because people didn’t replace broken things but repaired them instead. I just read about a man that got angry at the battery replacement cost of $22,000 for his Tesla, so he blew it up in a quarry. So wasteful. The Greatest Generation was never wasteful but original in their abilities to repurpose and recycle.
Christmas Dinner 2021 was an amazing meal with my six new friends. Feeling blessed that I’d been invited to tag along, it’s the second holiday meal spent with delightful new friends. All having witnessed my baptism, they are the truest kind of friends to have. Kindness is what Christmas is all about.
Today, I’m practicing snow driving, while taking Oliver to puppy camp for his New Year’s Holiday. Being the party animal that he is, he’s hoping his special friend, Lucy, will be waiting for him. I hope his special friend, Rover Roy is home for the holidays.
Over the mountains and through the desert of Northern Nevada, I’ll drive very slow, with no sudden maneuvers just like VST taught me. Snow driving…….. Who knew????
More tomorrow.