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Congratulations to the Chisago Lakes and the North Branch seniors for making it through school.

I attended and took pictures at the Chisago Lakes graduation ceremony. This class is a special one.  There are some real gems in the class of 2017 and overall, the class is a genuinely nice bunch of kids.

Maddy Duffy and Emily Ferguson gave some great speeches about how much everyone’s lives have changed since kindergarten.

English teacher Josh Scharnberg gave one of the best speeches I have ever seen at a commencement. If you can find it on Facebook, take the time to watch it, you will be glad you did.

The City of Lindstrom would like to invite you to Harmony in the Park. It’s a great concert series held at Lions Park on Wednesday evenings.  Bring your lawnchairs, it is a great time. See you there!

Thank you all for the kind words regarding my grandmother’s passing.  We went to Iowa for the funeral over the weekend. It was great, just as it should be, a celebration of someone who never, ever took life for granted. She must have touched many other people’s lives because the church was packed.

I have one funny last tidbit and I promise I won’t write anymore about her passing. This was told to us by the pastor of her church. So, on Monday the morning of the day she passed away, there were about five family members at her bedside at the hospital. The pastor was  there to, in essence, read her the last rites. He asked my grandma if she would like everyone to hold hands and pray. She said emphatically “yes!” So I guess just about everyone was holding hands but not everyone. Suddenly my grandma basically yells at them saying “Hold hands!”.  They chuckled under their breath and began to pray. When the prayer was over they kept holding hands not knowing when to release. After a couple of uncomfortable minutes someone asked if they should let go of hands. Typical Gram in her smart-alec ways says “Just let go - who knows how long this is gonna take!” Oh goodness I am going to miss that.

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