Rollin' with the flow

I'm quite use to life's ups and downs, but man this last couple months have been crazier than usual. It's ranged from, for example, words you don't want to say: "Ma'm, could I borrow your fire extinguisher?" To words you don't want to hear: "Mr. Haugen, we just can't seem to figure out what's wrong with your septic tank."

Seems every bit of good news is followed by some bad news with then some good news thrown in, just to tease again. It's ranged from sick dogs to the vet, blown transmissions, Twins sucking, flat tires, kid with severely sprained ankle, fender bender, kid with mono, leaking water pump, kid with speeding ticket, septic tank backed up on graduation morning, mother with kidney removed, etc. That's just the highlights off the top of my head.

Fortunately, it's all turned out okay for everybody except the check book.

So let me count a few blessings instead.

Just as our nest empties, wifey and I are excited that our oldest niece is moving to Rapid City with her husband and kids next month. And just when St. Thomas More thought they were done with my ugly mug.

Also, next month our Finnish friends will be visiting us for a week or so. He was a foreign exchange student with my wife's family when she was in high school and we've become great friends. Ismo is THE biggest Prince fan I know and would put him up against any other. He's the dude who got me into Prince's house for the Purple One's 40th birthday party. I look forward to grieving and jamming with him.

As for the kids, Katie continues to shine as an aide to Senator Mike Rounds but will be moving East River this fall, staying on staff, just in a new role.

Rylee is home for the summer and working at Rapid City Regional Hospital's preschool/daycare. She will return to that college in Brookings this fall to finish up her K-8 teaching and Special Ed degrees. The mail just arrived notifying me of another trip to the Dean's List for her. I never knew what that List was back in my day, but I'm told it's a good thing.

Luke is enjoying an internship in the Rapid City Mayor's Office for the summer and is in all his glory working for a private security firm in town, as well as catching some hours at his sporting goods gig in the Mall. He's heading to Minnesota State-Mankato this fall and hopes to have a fulltime job involving a Glock and a badge in a few years.

All three kids are also blessed with significant others we are quite proud of too, for which I give total credit to my wife, who led by example and set the bar quite high with the decision she made.

So, things are actually good in the Haugen hood, really good, though you tend to forget that when your engine is on fire or you're wet vacuuming sewage out of your utility room.