Remembering a selfish year

Last column for year 2005. As most of you know, the year just past was a tough one for my family and for me but we are carrying on with positive hopes and energy. That it is not just the best way to handle the loss of a loved one…it is the only way.

Was reviewing some of the 40-odd year-end columns done through the years and got such a kick out of the one for 1986, decided to share it with all you readers who weren't on board 19 years ago:

A Good Year for Jack, Willie,

Johnnie, and Me

Like all years, 1986 dished up its share of trouble and it served generous portions of delight. The headline-making world-news will be reviewed by the bigtime reporters in their media so I'll skip Challenger, Chernobyl, Iran, and world terrorists.

Things savored included Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters and 56 year old Willie Shoemaker coming in first at the Kentucky Derby. It was also good to hear Johnny Carson got engaged to a young lass he met on the beach. He's been keeping her around the house to play cards with…and stuff. I had worried that the $450,000 a year he pays the last wife might discourage Johnny from sharing a "meaningful relationship" while he still had some "meaningful" stuff left.

Old '86 was quite a year for well known folks gettin' hitched, even though total marriages continued to decline. Arnold Schwarzenegger muscled into the Kennedy clan by marrying Maria Shriver and John McEnroe decided to wed Tatum O'Neal before they had any more children. We were never told exactly how much England spent on Sarah and Prince Andrew's televised nuptials but, a super rich Norwegian named Arne ordered up the million dollar wedding for American singer Diana Ross in Switzerland. With that kind of foreplay, ya gotta figure the honeymoon to be an anti-climax.

Also going down the isle last year were people like Debra Winger, Caroline Kennedy, Lee Iacocca, Zsa-Zsa Gabor, and one Heidi Ostrom whose father did not spend a million dollars but felt like he did. Heidi's marriage gave high hopes to our clan, which currently has no people over six feet tall. Her husband Scott Duncan is 6'6". The one drawback there is, I feel a little funny standing on a chair to get the kid's attention.

For me personally, '86 was one of the most memorable of my life, not for great events but for hundreds of smaller things mainly involving good friends, the outdoors, and cameras. January started well with fabulous alpine skiing at Big Mountain and the new runs in the North Bowl, then came our wives' knitting club trip the big island of Hawaii where we found great snorkeling over the reefs, whale watching flights, exploring Volcano National Park, and golf. There was a warm and cautious hike through jungle with Ivan O'Neil to the precipitous upper Waipi'o valley with waterfalls a thousand feet high.

Shortly after returning from the Pacific, I resumed writing a column for the Hungry Horse News, back where I started it 25 years ago. There followed week after week of unforgettable hikes and climbs with the "Over the Hill Gang" in Glacier Park, several wild river floats, and some fine fly fishing. Marian and Ivan O'Neil with Iris and I, will not forget that one grizzly we met below Granite Park Chalet. It is a fun memory only because nothing bad happened. Other people not as lucky, were later mauled in that same beautiful place.

There was a perfect August photography flight along the Continental Divide and another plane trip where we saw wild wolves of the "Magic Pack" in the North Fork.

The sunny June, rainy July, then hot August produced the lushest and most brilliant wild flower displays ever seen in these parts, so between flora and fauna I shot 1,500 photos. Surely we all remember autumn. Mine was topped off by a fantastic trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. A bonus was sharing our scenic treasures with very appreciative people who came to tape Amy Grant's television special.

No denying it, 1986 was "My Year." I did hundreds of richly satisfying things mainly for pure personal enjoyment. It was self-gratification to the max, delightful dawdling, ego luxuriance, high quality indulgence, and I cherish every selfish minute, hour, and day of it. No regrets. Except for Hawaii, the wondrous things savored in '86 didn't take much money or involve unusual time off. They did take most of my spare time and a bit of energy.

I've promised Iris that in '87 I will get my head out of the clouds, knuckle down, toe the mark, put my shoulder to the wheel, bite the bullet, and keep my nose to the grindstone. I've promised to clean out the basement and garage, do the lawn more than twice next summer, and fix the shower that's been dripping since '85. Though I'm now facing penance, I highly recommend a year of intelligent self-indulgence.

The stupid grass isn't going any place. Nobody ever died of dirty-garagitis. It's later than you think, and the Schlitz beer man swears, "You only go around once."

Happy New Year.