There my wife and I sat on President’s Day relaxing in our easy chairs watching the Winter Olympics on TV. We had just experienced a “changing of the guard” at our house with our son and his family moving out the previous weekend and into a rental house and our elder daughter and her family moving in that day while her husband finishes up school in St. Joseph over the next year. The change meant a net reduction of two children and one adult (most of the time) since our son in law is in school four days out of each week. We loved having our son and his family living with us, even when they added a newborn to the group while they were with us, however nearly two years of togetherness had begun to wear on them and us.
As we sat there basking in a temporary period of solitude in came our two daughters giggling like a couple of goofy school girls. As our youngest caught her breath for a moment she blurted out “I took the test and I am going to have a baby”. As our jaws fell open our other daughter chimed in “I took the test and I am going to have a baby too” !!!!!! I have to admit I was pretty much in shock at that point and really couldn’t think of much of anything to say!!! Funny but the first thing I thought about was my parents and how tickled my mother in particular would have been to have nine great grandchildren running around. Our children meant everything to my Mom and Dad and we feel the very same about our grandchildren. Two new babies on the way -What a thrill!! We can only imagine what next Christmas at our house will be like!!
Ok, folks at a time when our school system is dealing with declining enrollment the “Thudium” clan is more than doing our part!! Let this be a challenge to you and your families!!!
High School Wrestling – I think most know that the Brookfield and Marceline school athletic programs have been producing top rated high school wrestling programs for many years now. This year Brookfield’s team was ranked second and Marceline 4th going into the State Championships held two weeks ago. Brookfield qualified 10 wrestlers for State but sheer numbers and a little bad luck allowed a larger Seneca squad to knock us out for first place. Brookfield ended up in 2nd place and Marceline finished 4th. Brookfield had three individual state champions, two second place finishers and two others take 5th & 6th place. Austin Lindsay at 152 lbs finished the season undefeated and a four time State Champion. His brother Gary at 145 lbs lost a heart breaker in double overtime by one point and finished with a one loss season. Brock Wine at 171 lbs won a second straight Championship, Jordon Orr at 135 lbs. finished in first as a three time State Champion. Austin, Wine, and Orr are seniors but we have Gary Lindsay coming back next year. Also Senior Jacob Buckallew, 160 lbs, took a 5th place, Junior Mike McCollum at 189 lbs finished a second place, and a 6th place went to Freshman Micah Blakley at 119, both pleasant surprises and both coming back next year along with numerous other talented underclassmen.
Marceline boy’s results included Bryce Cupp, 189 lbs taking first place, Nick Cordray, 140 lbs, a second, Matthew Bell, 215 lbs, a second, Matthew Smith, 103 lbs, a fourth and Tyler Hamilton, 112 lbs, a second.
Our congratulations to a talented bunch of seniors from both schools and good luck to both squads as they look toward filling some big shoes next year.
You can find Bill's entire column in the 03-10-10 edition of the Linn County Leader.
Brookfield, Mo. —
