FATE! It Wins Every Time!

In past posts, a story developed where a friend in the USMC from high school reached out to me. I talked about it in this post. Then a friend of his tried to find him and reached to me and I helped them get together as a friend of theirs was killed in Afghanistan. I posted about Buzz in this post.

Well, Parke was at the funeral in DC last week. His flight from DC to MSP was delayed by weather and he missed the last option to San Diego by 10 minutes.

After all of that storyline and because of this blog ultimately, things came together ended with a stranded Major Parke Paulson in MSP. How fitting that he get a chance to come out to New Richmond and stay a night catching up with me?!

It was great to see Parke (even though he is still ugly as sin). We looked at pictures of Jim's wake which despite the sad occasion, seemed to be a good celebration of Jim's life. We checked out 100's of pictures of his Iraq trips. It put some non-media pictures and stories with the war that have given me a different feel. I still don't think we should be in Iraq but I have a different perspective now. These guys (and gals) are doing good things for the Iraqi people and seem to enjoy making a difference.

The other good thing is that we realized that we are not getting any younger. We have to get the old crew together. 10-20 years is too long. I call out to Joel Kosman (said to be in Alaska), Don Ellis, Chris Schlagel and Dan Marquardsen. More Aitkinites from 89 are welcome! EMAIL me. Leave me a comment. Tell me where you are. We need a reuinion of our own. I don't care if it is in New Richmond, San Diego, Alaska or McGregor. It's time.

Catching Up

I had some annonymous comments that I was SURE came from The Rube. I accused him and he declined involvement. I really did not believe him. All along it was an old friend of mine from high school that I had lost contact with. Major Parke Paulson, USMC. I should have figured it out by the "setting your ankle on fire" comment. OK, I was drunk that night....those brain cells are dead.

Since the comments, we have exchanged some email and a phone call. How great it is to catch up with someone. For those of you that do not know, Parke is the reason I now know to ask where a wedding is before agreeing to be the Best Man. Our conversation on that went like this....

Parke: Will you be my best man?

Lyle: SURE - I'd be honored.

Parke: Great the wedding is in June....in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Lyle: Ra-what?

We were virtuously penniless at the time but made the 17 hour drive in 100 degree weather to the plains of Saskatchewan. All in all, it was a great time and as a gift, Parke gave me a baseball signed by every player and coach of the World Champion 1987 Minnesota Twins which I still cherish today.

So to Mr. Paulson, thanks for reaching out. You made my day! Now if we could just find Kosman, Marquardsen, Ellis and Schlagel, we'd be in business!

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Today, Eddy Arnold died. No, I am not a huge fan. Most people have heard "Cattle Call". Why do I post this useless information? Because my grandpa LOVED that song. Made me think of him today.

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Lastly, I promised some pics from The Boneyard...here are a few of my favorites.

The House of Lords Steakhouse was a Rat Pack hangout. If I could go back in time, seeing or better yet, hanging with the Rat Pack would be at the top of my list.

An old Lady Luck sign. Not just any sign though....this is the sign that Marisol Nichols (hottie) danced on in Vegas Vacation. The rails on the other side that you can see were added for her safety.

Lastly (for now) an old Golden Nugget sign. This is one of the originals and was the sign in most of the old "Fremont Street Pics". It had the big gold chunk on it with 1905 which was not the start of the Nugget but rather the year Vegas became a city. There were 3 or 4 Nugget signs from the years in The Boneyard. Very cool!