The life and times of Lorne W P Vanderwoude

I was born on a Friday in April on the twenty six day of that month. The year was 1968 which is now 54 years ago.

That year, my adoptive father was turning 39 years old on the last day of July.

There were a list of significant news events which happened in 1968. In that spring when I was born, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia and arrested President Dubcek. There was the assassination of Martin Luther King JR who was the leader of the Negro Civil Rights movement. The American senator Robert F Kennedy who was also known as Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. There were anti Vietnam war demonstrations which turned violent during a march in London, England. The Intel corporation was created by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce.

NASA’s Apollo 8 space mission was launched on December 21 as well as Earnest C Manning stepped down as Alberta’s premier that month. 800,000 teachers and workers and student protestors marched through the French capital on an one day general strike. North Vietnam and Vietnam cong troops launch the Tet offensive as well as Dutch Elm disease continued that year to increase with thousands of trees destroyed. The Redwood National Park was created that year in order to protect the giant Redwoods.

One thing which I have noticed through out the years is that all these events which were so important in 1968, for the most part have been forgotten. For the most part, that one day in Red Deer on April 26 at the old Red Deer hospital has not been the center of conversation outside of my own little world.

I still hold onto to this belief that a picture is worth one thousand words. This picture was taken on April 26, 1972 when I turned four that year.

That Summer, at a friend’s place in Calgary, Alberta, I almost drowned and my life almost came to an abrupt end. My father jumped into that pool and saved my life. I remember that day as if it happened yesterday.

Birthdays were always special to me when I was a child. That birthday, the picture which mother took of me was in our kitchen where our table where we ate was located. I was sitting where father usually sat. Then on my father’s left was Deneena, mother, Joy on the end and Peter sat next to me on my side of the table.

Where a person sat was always decided by my father. We all had our spot at the table where we received the food we needed from each meal.

I really do wish that I could remember every birthday including my birth. All I have are the photos which my Dad and Mom gave me to help me remember these very special days which happened through out my life.

I see pictures of my cake which can never be replaced if I ever lost those pictures. I am now looking at a picture of Deneena and I sitting at the very table where the first picture was taken.

Deneena was so cute with her long hair. She had a cute face with these freckles on her face. She was my best friend since I did not have a lot of real friends.

I remember my fake friends of Ornkie, Mother and little Ted. Little Ted has his retirement home which is a manager scene house. Little Ted sleeps all the time and I feel so connected to him even as an adult. Mother gave him to me on my one year birthday and I have never left his side from that day forward.

I even took little Ted with us on our honey moon and to make a long story shorter, he rode on the bus home from Saskatoon. My father told me that I was unwise to waste good money on that thing. He thought that I had a screw lose upstairs.

I told mother that I wanted to have a friend or two. Mother told me that she never had friends and I did not need any as well. She also told me that the people at our Killam Baptist church were my real friends. Well, I thought to myself, what sort of things did I do at church with my so called friends. I only smiled and said hello. Well, I thought at school if I walked around and smiled at people, I would have tons of friends. Well, that worked until Deneena complained that I was embarrassing her at school. I was told to stop that sort of thing. My sisters were really good at monitoring my behavior in the public by reporting any funny out of place behaviors.

I spent all of my time by myself with my imaginary friends. I spent more times by myself than I did out in public. I was ressless, so maybe that is why I paced like a caged lion. This is how my father put it as he was remembering my child hood time. When I did become an adult, we did have a lot of those conversations adult to adult.

There are some things which I have placed in my writing of some of my memories from the past that some of them were not as accurate as they could have been. In one Senior Paper edition in one of my articles, I had written that we as a family ate once a week while we were in the nearest city in our car. The truth was that we did not go to Camrose once a week. There were times when we did eat out at A&W, take out from KFC and there was a sandwich place in the Camrose mall where we ate at that place. Those times were few and far between.

The memories which really do stick out in my mind from my childhood was the Camping trips that Dad and Mom took us on every year except, 1971, 1973 and 1975 when we as a family visited Dad’s family in the Netherlands.

The trips to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was one of my favourite times. Saskatoon is a city which was built along the South Saskatchewan River in the province of Saskatchewan. This city is the largest one in that province. We always stayed at a campground which is located in the heart of the city known as the Gordon Howe Campground. This campground is a mature campground with 136 serviced sites located at 1640 Anenue P South. This place has 136 electrical and water sites plus 12 tent sites. It has shaded and sunny sites along with paved, well lit roads as well as with barbecues and picnic tables on site. There were washrooms, showers, pay phones and a play ground.

This was the city where Dad and Mom would use the money Grandma would provide for us to eat a meal at McDonalds. I always had a Big Mac, small milk and apple pie. I remember at school during a French class in grade six, when the teacher asked us to make a restaurant menu in French, I thought I made a fine one. I made Breakfast, lunch and supper separations on my menu. The teacher was so angry and asked if I ever ate at a restaurant. I told him very clearly, that our family had eaten at McDonalds. My mother also had written up menus for our meals so I thought I knew how a menu went.

Another place that stands out in my memory was Maryfield, Saskatchewan. This is a village of 348 people located south of the intersection of highway 48 and highway 600 which is about 8 km from the Manitoba boarder. Just outside of Maryfield lived on a farm, Uncle Allen. Later in life after Great Grandpa and Great Grandma passed away, Uncle Allen moved into their house which was located on main street in Maryfield.

I remember the summer fair which Maryfield held every year. One year, the pig scrabble was one event I joined in. I just happened to grab the largest pig and I made sure that I dragged that poor thing across the finish line. The normal kids tried grabbing the lightest pigs, and when the first three passed the finish line, the rest of them dropped theirs and walked away. I guess I did not understand that concept since this was the very first time which I did this event. Then there were the bag pipers walking around the fair grounds playing the bag pipes. In the hockey rink were tables with baking and Jam as well as other vegetables all looking for a prize which the judges would hand out in the form of ribbons. Mother would be looking at the stuff which her aunts had put out hoping to win these prizes. I was bored and that was the best word which described how I as a child felt.

One year, Uncle Allen lent me his bike which I rode all around the village. There was a museum in an old church which I looked in every year. I rode and rode which I was used to spend a lot of time by myself. No wonder, I did not have any friends. I spent too much time alone. My imagination and I spent hours entertaining myself.

Times back then we’re not like they are today. I was sent outside and I was not allowed to play video games for hours or watch TV for hours on end. I read a lot of books which made me into the person I am today.

Today, I have the best friend who I can spend time with outside of work. She is my wife. She is my life partner and best friend. She keeps me balanced. She makes my birthdays all very special just like my mother used to do. I am so fortunate to have her on my birthdays as I celebrate all of them until the time comes for my time to end on this earth. This is how I am going to end my little journey down memory lane. The memories which I have for the most part are positive ones. All the ones I am making now have some negative but most of these memories are positive ones which I will make sure I will not waste any more time on useless wate of time items. My wife is the best and I am so fortunate to have her as my best friend.