Three Beautiful Things 03-21-2026: Valerie's Celebration of Life, Meeting Debbie at The Lounge, Together is Good

 1. This afternoon Ed and I traveled together to the Blackwell Hotel in Coeur d'Alene to attend the Celebration of Life for our KHS Class of 1972 classmate, Valerie Saari (her married name: Valerie Young). Valerie lived just a block north of us once our family moved, in June of 1962, to the house Debbie and I now live in. So Valerie was a neighborhood friend as well as a fellow student at Sunnyside Elementary, Kellogg Junior High School, and Kellogg High School. 

I loved seeing all the members of our graduating class who attended -- Stu counted at least sixteen of us. 

This Celebration of Life also took me back to my first memories as a child. 

Valerie's older sister, Cheryl, is married to Bill Papesh. Bill and his step-siblings Deidre and Craig Lenhart lived next door to us when we moved into the house at 14 E. Portland. 

Craig, Bill, Cheryl, and Valerie's other sister, Joanie, were all present today and to them I was still Billy Woolum! They all chuckled at calling me Billy and switched to calling me Bill, but it was fun feeling like I was a little boy again! 

Craig Lenhart and I hadn't seen each other for over fifty years and we fell into easy and long conversation about all kinds of subjects related to when we were next door neighbors, to our days as ball players in Kellogg and, for Craig, in Spokane Valley, some of our experiences as Boy Scouts, mutual friends, and other things. 

Seeing Craig, talking with him for so long and so openly, in addition to being with life long friends from the Class of '72, talking with Chris Blickensderfer Fadness, another neighborhood friend from the old days on Sunnyside, seeing Valerie's sisters, and hearing Joanie's kind words about Valerie as she welcomed us all to this gathering made for a most uplifting and intense afternoon. 

2. On the way back to the Silver Valley, Ed and I talked about how much we enjoyed this afternoon in memory of Valerie. 

I discovered, as Ed headed into his house, that Debbie texted me that she was at The Lounge. 

So I drove right there. 

Jake, Mayo, and Craig King also came from the Celebration of Life to The Lounge and absorbed themselves in Gonzaga's men's basketball team losing its second round NCAA tournament game to Texas. 

I yakked with Debbie off and on between conversations with others and she and I continued to get caught up with each other and even began to speculate a bit about what lies ahead for us in 2026.

3. It probably goes without saying, but here I go: I'm enjoying being back under the same roof with Debbie. We can talk about things when we want to. It's good to be back sharing cooking and other household tasks. Put simply, it lightens things up all the way around to be back together.