Life truly is a
rollercoaster….
By Bob Zettler
October 11, 2015
“You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a
roller coaster.
Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so
interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick,
so excited, and so thrilled all together!
Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round.
That just goes around. Nothing.
I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.”
That was Grandma from the movie Parenthood providing a
parable for Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen when they were faced with multiple
life-changing issues towards the end of the movie in what I still consider a
great way to wrap-up the movie – and for a lot of us as well. I mean, after all, one of my nicknames is
Dark Cloud due to all the weird and “interesting” things that happen to me and
the people around me.
Yesterday was…shall we say, “Interesting.”
It started out with a road trip to go fishing at Lake Shelbyville,
which in itself is something I had done almost every weekend this past May
through September 1. However, this time
my son was going with me and we hadn’t been out on the boat together in a long
time. As usual we got a late start and
arrive at Leprechaun Landing a little before 10 AM – had hoped to be there
before 6 AM. Pulled the boat out of
storage and began the process of cleaning it up from its last outing on
September 1 for Early Season Goose hunting.
Didn’t take long and it was time to introduce Jon to Virgil and Perry
Jones who own and operate the store.
Interesting is that I knew them both more than 30 years ago when I lived
in Champaign and hunted on some land they farmed up by Mahomet. Small world.
So Jon gets his fishing license and I buy six-dozen
minnows and a large bag of ice. Virgil’s
count of six dozen minnows is always way off and this time was no
exception. I will probably have seven
dozen left after catching our 30 Crappie limit!
So as we walk out the door, Virgil asks us as we get to the van if we
want our minnows – seems we left them at the counter. Que sera.
Grab the minnow cooler and head down to Wolf Creek. “Boy, a lot of trailers in the parking lot,”
I think to myself as I am usually getting there around dark and most have left
for the day. Get out and start to back
the boat into the water and realize we had forgotten our ice. Put the clamps back on and sheepishly head
back to the Landing and hope no one notices.
Virgil is right there and says, “Forgot your ice too?” After flipping him off we head back to the
ramp and finally get the boat on the water around 11 AM.
Well, the motor is sluggish and I am worried about it so
we decide to simply fish the closest area using the trolling motor. Now I had
been provided leads from my very good friend Brian and Tyler, so this area was
not on their list but wouldn’t you know it, I catch the first Crappie and he is
an over in just a few casts and my son catches an even bigger Crappie right
after me. Life is good!
We hit a good clump of Crappie and fish it for quite a
while and then proceed to hit trees and stumps throughout the cove but none of
it was as good as the first area we hit so we worked our way back over the
course of the next three hours or so. I didn’t
see anyone else doing any better so I wasn’t too unhappy and thought we ought
to be thinking of heading home around 4 PM as we had left our dog, Hutch, all
alone and inside since 8:30 AM.
Now comes the real me, the die-hard many of my hunting
crew have come to fear and that is, “I’ll just hit this one more
stump/tree/structure and we can go.” Or the,
“I’ll just hit those two trees and we can go.”
This was repeated a number of times before I decided enough was enough
for a change – it was nearly 6 PM…
Anyway, we get the boat out and everything situated and
head back to Leprechaun to put it in storage for what might be the winter and
that is when I think about extending our trip a little and head home via
Champaign to pick up some decoys another good friend is holding for me. I ask Jon if that is okay and call Keith who
just happens to be home. Get his address
and discover that Champaign is a tad farther than I remember, so I put the
hammer down and head north hoping Hutch can hold his bladder another two hours
or so…
And, then I get another idea - I am full of them too you
know! And I ask Jon if he would break
his diet for a Papa Del’s Pan Pizza.
After much gnashing of teeth, he reluctantly agrees, and we order one
for pickup…in 45 minutes. Hey, they are
god pizzas! We make it to Keith’s home
in record time and after chatting and loading the decoys, he gives my son and
me several gifts that he brought home from his sister’s home who had passed
away last year. Keith is another very
good friend and a very good man.
We leave after maybe 15 minutes of chatting which is
unusual for me as I can talk, and talk and…, well, those that know me, know
what I mean and we head off to Papa Del’s for our reward. Get the pizza and I realize I have to get gas
before leaving town and Jon decides we need paper plates so he goes inside and
gets plates while I fuel up. I was done
before him so I pulled up to the front and checked my Cell for emails and the
like only to discover an unusual icon on the home screen which turned out to be
a message that basically said that my niece was at my parents cemetery in
Champaign and their tombstone was knocked over and their grave was DUG UP!
I would think that would come as a shock to just about anyone
so I called my niece who I had not seen in some time only to get a recording,
so I left a message and was creating a text when she called back. Now my parents are buried right across the
street from Memorial Stadium at what I joking refer to as near the 50-yard line
at Mount Hope and it is home to many former residents of Champaign County – and
I thought well regarded. So after telling
Jenn I will be there in about 10 minutes, I call the police and get switched
around to God only which unit and was told someone would be there shortly.
We make it there through the remnants of the Illini
football game crowd (they lost) and arrive to see her van parked with the
headlights shining onto the gravestones.
That’s when we see that my parent’s gravestone is not the only ones
overturned and damaged but that there are several. And, yes, the gravesite appears to have been
dug into and the earth thrown back on top.
I know my niece loved her Grandparents, as I loved them, so I tried to
remain calm and collected. Now my parent’s gravestone is unique and HEAVY. We had it designed when my Mother passed away
31 years ago. It depicts a scene with
two people fishing and one has a fish on, while the other is still
fishing. And, under my Mother’s name
there is the Union Jack, or the British Flag, and under my Father’s is the
American Flag. Why? Because my Mother was a war bride and
retained her proud British heritage and remained a British subject till the day
she died. And, of course, my Father was
American and had been in the Army when they met. This all just fit them and we could not tell
if it was damaged as it was face down in the dirt.
We all took pictures and when the police came, they were
very kind, respectful and considerate.
As we took in the macabre scene, with at least five markers or
gravestones either overturned or moved, ruts from heavy equipment, dug up
graves and the like, my son noticed and pointed out how this one tree looked to
have been recently cut, or, damaged and cut – something none of us had even
noticed. Then we looked the crime scene
over again and started to find wood chips, sawdust and more tire tracks all
throughout the gravestones with what appeared to be no respect for hallowed
ground by people with a wood-chipper, chainsaw and backhoe.
So, we have now gone from vandalism, grave-robbers, to
possible (and incomprehensible) cemetery employees having caused the
damage! As no one at the cemetery
(living) responded to repeated calls, the police said they would follow-up and
get back with us. And, as my parent’s
gravestone was still lying face down, they offered to help right it, whereupon
it took five of us to simply right it and slide it back into position. There was another gravestone that was
face-down but it will take a crane to fix it.
I begrudgingly had to say our goodbyes for they still had
a 2.5 hour trip and we had another 90 minutes before we would be home – and poor
Hutch needed to be let out. It was a
bittersweet moment for me at least, as we had not seen each other in years due
to family issues and Jenny and I had been very close when she was younger. She has turned into a great mother, wife and
women and…well, nuff said.
So, yes, life for me is a roller-coaster most days and
nights but for the most part I like it that way…for the most part!
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