The Sorting

Saturday we sorted roads, restaurants, activities, words and ways.
Today we sort memories to hold until we meet again.

Our Norway Bound Tour 2008 ladies met up in Fargo with our Eidskog guide who was on a two-week bus tour from Minneapolis across South Dakota to the Black Hills, out to Montana's Yellowstone Park, and returned through North Dakota via Minot's Høstfest, Fargo-Moorhead, Watertown S.D. and back to Minneapolis to fly out today.




This photo shows Sverre lunching with five women at Fargo's Ruby Tuesday's where his fellow Norwegian tourist was lunching with his own party. After taking our group photo, he told Sverre, "See you back in Norway," to hint that we just might kidnap him.

Following lunch,
we drove to

the Dakota
Carriage
Company

for
a
horse-dawn
ride

to
the

pumpkin
patch.

I choose one larger than a basketball to fit the specifications of my fourth-grader. Noah will use the pumpkin for a class assignment on weighing, counting seeds, graphing and decoratively carving a jack-o-lantern. Sverre played along picking his own pumpkin. Too heavy to haul home to Norway, he generously loaded his beast into my car's trunk for our family carving party.

Next,

our
group

headed
into

the
corn
field

for
a
hike

through
the

corn
maze

and
back

to
the spider's

pumpkin
patch

to
load

onto
the

horse-drawn
wagon

for
a
lift

back
to

the
farm

where we shared
Norwegian MILK
chocolate bars

-thanks to Sverre-

and drank
hot cocoa.

We drove Sverre
back to his hotel,

parted ways
and headed home.

Half-way through my trek, I stopped by a lakeside to rest. During the commute from the hotel to the farm and back, Sverre had let loose a load of ideas. The combination of navigating unfamiliar roads and communicating in Norwegian had taken its toll. I used a half hour to sort thoughts.

One stood out. As a retired education professional, Sverre explained he recently returned to the classroom to teach - very part-time - one English course to an upper-elementary class. "Back on the stage!" he smiled, clearly enjoying his choice.

He stressed how we all are responsible for our own choices. And even more than teaching his students their subject matter, he hoped to help them understand how to sort out what is important and to let go of the rest.

Hmmm... Let The Sorting begin!