July 4th with Hansens & friends
Our kids!
In back: Trey Hansen
L-R front: Tori Hansen, Tobey Switzer,
Madison Lockwood, TJ Smith, Ryan Smith
Uploaded to Flickr by: aswitzer.
Dane and Alice sent the word out that they would be in town for the 4th of July holiday, and Carrie spun into action on the Colorado end of things to help put a spontaneous “volleyball friends” reunion.
When Dane and Alice moved to North Carolina, initially our reunions were always the obvious choice - the annual Mother Lode volleyball tourney in Aspen, held every Labor Day weekend. That event holds tons of meaning - Dane and I first played up there (separate partners) in 1989, and we both played in one division or another for well over 10 consecutive years. In 1997 Dane and Alice got married up there a few days after the tournament ended in a nearby church, and thus now share their anniversary with the event.
Over the years, good friends like the Smiths, Lockwoods, Nicholls and many more became a core group that we share many memories with - starting with volleyball of course, but expanding to include weddings, Christmas and New Year’s parties, and eventually and most importantly - our kids. In recent years, volleyball has felt the attrition of rapidly approaching middle age (ugh, did I really just say that) and is no longer the focus it once was. So, we’ve gotten more creative on creating reunion opportunties - like Thanksgiving at Dane’s younger brother Brent’s house a few years back, and now a July 4th event.
We spent the brief but satisfying get-together at a nearby park - reliving a little past volleyball glory, chasing our kids around, a BBQ at the Twizzler’s pad, and an amateur fireworks show put on in the rain by Scott and yours truly. We had a blast, and were sad to say goodbye at the end to not only the Hansen’s but the rest of the still local crew, as its hard to get together as often as we’d like, and some of our paths don’t cross nearly as often as we wish. Bruce Clark and Camron Self also participating in the reunion were fitting as Bruce was Dane’s orginal roommate in good ol’ Corbett Hall (Go Rams!) and many of us first met Cam at one of our original and most memorable New Year’s Eve bashes downtown.
Thanks for joining me on this brief trip down memory lane, and sorry it took me so long to write up this great event. Thanks to my beautiful wife for making it happen - and to everyone else who took the time and made it a great day!
Photos from the day:
Alice’s photo set on Shutterfly