The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

What’s the use of owning my own newspaper if you can’t write what’s important to me? I just recently spent a weekend with my brother and sisters at the family cabin at The Pines Recreation area on Fort Peck Lake (ok, it’s really a reservoir). It was my brother’s 70th birthday, and the cabin is 50 years old.

It was a surprise birthday party for my brother, who lives near Portland. My brother and his wife drove through Big Sandy on Friday. I was supposed to lie and tell him I couldn’t make it. As it was, I had an ear infection and was at the doctor’s office when they drove through. He told me he was a little suspicious—but that was the truth. My sister and her dog came from Seattle and spent the night with me before we drove to Glasgow to meet up with my sister and her husband, who live in Billings.

It was the last beautiful fall weekend before the winter storm hit. There are always incredible sunrises over the lake and beautiful sunsets to comment on. Sitting on the big, screen-enclosed deck, looking over the lake deports you back. My parents, both gone now, loved this place. My brothers helped build it.

We walked around the pines and walked to the water’s edge. I took my shoes off and walked along the shore, not caring if they had to wait for me. My brother’s son came up from Great Falls. I was glad because walking up the shale embankment was HARD, and he came back down the embankment to pull me up!

It’s hard to describe the emotions of such a short, well-planned visit, but it’s captivating, and I really want to try it. The laughter was terrific, the food incredible, and the memories precious! Not just for the weekend we spent together, but the cabin carries 50 years of family memories. It hasn’t changed really. The rock wall my father made from the rocks my mother found everywhere she went is still just as solid as it was initially. The rug, a patchwork of different colors made from rug samples glued to the floor, still looks like they did; the flooring in the kitchen has changed, but not the kitchen wall that has a map of Fort Peck across the entire wall, with pages of plant and wildlife seen in the area glued to the wall as well. There is now a more modern bathroom, but the outdoor two-seated outhouse is still used.

What is the most profound is 50 years of guest books. Whenever anyone goes to the cabin, they must write in the guest books. So our family’s history is there. Our thoughts, our struggles, our pain, and our celebrations of the last 50 years are written in those books. My mother and my brother, who both have died of cancer, become alive again as you read their thoughts. Before my children could even write, their little hands put something in those books. The books go back 50 years and are hilarious and deeply thought-provoking as well, especially when you realize our age and how quickly life is gone. How much of life is already gone!

Every time I am at my family’s cabin, I always find myself thinking deeply, wishing I was incredibly gifted and could somehow capture the power of that place.

My brother and sister, especially my sister, have done an excellent maintenance job. Still, now the next generation is responsible for the cabin, but the treasure found there will always be.