October 10th!

 In case you didn't realize it, today is October 10th. I subscribe to a free email from the History Channel called "This Day in History". It is always interesting to see what happened through the years on a particular day and makes for good reading. 

I see that on October 10, 1985, the Achille Lauro drama came to a close as the highjackers were arrested. I was in the midst of raising kids and milking cows at this time so have no recollection of being aware of these events at the time, but it must have been high drama! 

In 2004 Superman actor Christopher Reeves died at the age of 52, living the life of a quadraplegic for nine years following a horse accident. 

In 1991, a former US Postal worker went on a killing spree following being fired from his post office job. Turns out this was the first of several incidents in which postal workers took out their frustrations on innocent people and introduced the term "going postal" into our vocabulary.

In 1973, and I do remember this, Spiro Agnew resigned as vice-president of our nation due to the charges of income tax evasion.

And worst of all, 800 children were gassed to death at Auschwitz, one of the most infamous of Nazi death camps, in 1944.

It seems the days run together for me, and remembering a date takes a pretty special thing. I can remember the important dates for milestones in life, birthdays, anniversaries, etc, but the normal days don't really stand out. However, October 10, 2010, 10-10-10, I recall. I blogged about it a few years ago, and I will reprint that blog for you. It was just a day that was special for the people who were in it and the good time we had. 

Life has so many days that just go by and are forgotten. Usually they are just the mundane days that seem like the one before, nothing special happening. 

Then there are the days that are remembered for the wrong reasons. Most of us can remember September 11, 2001 and the terrorist attacks that has forever changed our day to day world. A few less of us can remember November 22, 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. And quite a few less can remember December 7, 1941, the "day that will live in infamy", when the Japanese attacked our base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (I wasn't around for that one but have heard accounts from those who do remember!)

And then there are days that are remembered for all the right reasons, weddings, births, happy events. It's fun to recall those days and remember the happiness that came with the event.

One of the happy days in my life is October 10, 2010. Do you remember what you were doing that day? This one is kind of a random memory day for me. First of all it sticks in my head because it was 10-10-10, but that actually just reminds me of the wonderful day that it was. Nothing huge or life-changing happened, but it was a fun day that created some great memories...and I even got pictures of it.

It was a beautiful fall Sunday. Teri and Taylor were still living with us. We attended church as usual, then struck out on a venture. It was the KBR Harness and Saddle Club's monthly ride, and it was being held in eastern Keya Paha County. We packed a light picnic lunch and pulled into the Simpson Cemetery to eat it. Now I know that sounds a bit gruesome, but let me explain. I am a Find A Grave contributor and I needed pictures of the headstones to complete my work on that cemetery. And since we were in the neighborhood, and since we had time to kill, this just made sense.

After lunch and after I had taken the pictures I needed we headed off to the trail head for our ride. We hadn't planned to ride horses but had made reservations with our good friends, Elmer and Judy Schwager to ride in their wagon. So we loaded in the wagon and headed off in our appointed place in the caravan.

    

Taylor had just turned a year old a few weeks earlier so this was her first (and possibly only) trail ride. She sat on her mom's lap and watched the scenery and horses and riders. She was so content to be on a trail ride.

We headed south and it wasn't long before the Niobrara River was in sight along with the beautiful fall foliage. We enjoyed the scenery as we jostled along in Elmer's wagon. We passed many beautiful sites, all adorned with their fall apparel. The ride began with the temps just cool enough that we needed light jackets, but we had shed them a few minutes into the ride.

The ride ended all too soon, but we finished off with a delicious pot luck dinner at our host's home where we enjoyed the fellowship of our fellow riders. And after dinner and the meeting, we headed off for home, tired but content.

Somehow I feel I am failing to relay the beauty, contentment and joy of that day. It's a day we will never get back in reality but that we can relive over and over again in our memories..aided by the pictures I got that day. It was just a day of simple but pure pleasure and enjoyment. I have actually relived this day seven times since then, each time the calendar reads October 10th.

Sadly Taylor is no longer a year old, but has now attained the ripe old age of eight. And Teri and Taylor have moved on to a life with Mike and Merrick, which is a happy thing but still just a touch bittersweet when I think of the great memories we made in those couple years when she lived with us. 

So here's the take away in this post...make memories. Great memories don't have to take a huge effort or cost a lot of money. Often they are just the ordinary things in life spent with the extraordinary people that our life includes doing something we all enjoy. Put down your cell phone and live in the moment, great memories are sitting there waiting to be remembered.

I hope my trip down memory lane will inspire you to remember some great days in your life. Or better yet, get out and enjoy this beautiful fall day and make some memories!