Make the trip Now and floods of happy memories

We went two years ago to a mini reunion in Nevada to visit my deGanahl cousins. There was not a critical mass but after hearing that my Uncle Chuck died on Sunday I am so thankful we made that trip.

Daddy and Uncle Chuck with their wives, Mom and Auntie Pat bought the Lazy EH Ranch in 1954. In fact they closed on the ranch the day I was born, at least that was the story I was told. We grew up with the 5 deGanahl cousins on the ranch until 1965, when we moved away to Vermont and they continued to ranch it until it was sold a few years ago.

Daddy and Uncle Chuck learned how to ranch from other ranchers in Yampa, who called them the "kids". They worked and played together very well, and shared a lot of wonderful personality traits as well.  Chuck's granddaughter said "generous" on her facebook yesterday about him.  She is right on.

From my perspective, they were both quiet, gentle men, who knew what people needed and quietly put that in place to then watch others enjoy.  They never wanted the credit, they just wanted to watch others enjoy.  Two years ago, during our visit, Uncle Chuck heard me remark about the rosemary in front of their house, and the next day he had cut loads of rosemary and put a paper towel around it, in a plastic bag, for me to take home.  Daddy every Christmas would go downstairs, light the tree and then let us run down to see the miracle of Santa Claus.  He would be quietly sitting, grinning in the corner, sipping his coffee, as he watched our eyes light up, and observed us playing with the new toys.  They were both quiet and thoughtful, and unassuming, and very very very bright.

I have been on a 35mm slide scanning binge, so as soon as I heard about Uncle Chuck, I started scanning the pictures from Mama's (Chuck and Mom's mother) 90th birthday celebration, which was the last happy large gathering. The next unhappy large gathering was when Daddy died in 1995.  The picture of Daddy and Uncle Chuck from the 90th is out of focus, but the focus of the pixels is not what matters.
The deGanahl family for those years in Colorado, were our best friends. We lived 7 miles from Yampa, a town of 200 people, down a dirt road on a ranch at 8000 feet in the Rockies. I always say it is as close to heaven as you can get. We played and worked and grew up together. 

Seeing some of the deGanahls cousins, two years ago was lovely.  Unfortunately, the gathering for Uncle Chuck's service soon will be because of his loss, and there will be more of us present for that.

I for one, commit to seeing more of them more for happy occasions, in addition to the inevitable unhappy ones.