By Rich Creason | For The Times-Post

I don’t understand it.

Susie has two brothers. I have a brother and a sister.

Every time I see one of them, they just seem to have gotten a lot older.

Granted, two of her brothers live in southern Florida and we don’t get there very often anymore.

They don’t get up this far either. So it’s maybe five or 10 years between visits with them.

My sister lives with her husband in southern Florida also.

She is older than I am. Same situation, except they still have friends up here from when they lived here before moving south.

They return to visit every three or four years.

Still, we don’t get to see each other very long at a time.

She will call and tell me they are in town and can see us for an hour and a half on such and such a day when their calendar is open.

Usually, we will meet in Pendleton at the Hacienda Vieja for lunch and say “Goodbye.

See you in a few years.”

Then, they head out for other stops on their agenda before returning to Florida.

Susie’s brother and his wife came to town for a visit this past weekend.

They were passing through on their way home from an extended trip traveling through the western states.

We had dinner with them at the Hacienda on Friday after they arrived here.

Our daughter and her family came from Fort Wayne to see them on Saturday morning.

Our grandson had just returned Friday night from church camp and I’m not sure he had ever met Susie’s family.

Our daughter hadn’t seen her favorite uncle in almost 10 years.

The grandson wanted Mexican food for lunch Saturday, so we returned to Hacienda.

We went to our house and visited all day Saturday. I bought a couple large pizzas for dinner.

Susie’s family had friends to visit Saturday night before returning to Florida, so they left and our family headed back to Fort Wayne.

My brother lives in northern Ontario, Canada. He is about 150 miles north of Minnesota in a town called Kenora, and is about 1,400 miles away from central Indiana.

So, like the rest of our family, we don’t get to see him very often.

Before the pandemic, we saw him every year or two. Susie and I would head north for a fishing trip and visit with Butch and his family for a day or two.

Now, we haven’t crossed into Canada for five years.

Twice, we were at Lake of the Woods, which is the Minnesota, Ontario border, but couldn’t cross into Canada due to Covid restrictions.

My brother is older than I am, and he had a severe stoke some years ago, so he doesn’t go on long trips anymore.

I have an outdoor Writer’s conference in Bemidji, Minnesota this fall, so we may take a couple extra days and head to Kenora for lunch with the family.

Then, like my sister, I’ll tell him we will see him again in a few years. At his age and health, that might be too late.

Susie and I were scheduled to attend a metal detector hunt in Arkansas this fall.

We have been there four times in the past, and it is an expensive trip.

After seeing her family this weekend, we discussed using the time and money from our Arkansas trip to head to Canada instead.

With proper scheduling, we can do the writer’s conference, visit my brother and his family, then, stop at Lake of the Woods on the way home.

We can spend a couple nights at one of the resorts there, and get in a day of walleye fishing before heading back to Indiana.

I guess I understand why the rest of the family gets older since I only see them every five years or so. I just don’t understand why I never seem to get older.

Rich Creason is an award-winning outdoors and travel writer whose work has appeared in local, regional, national and international publications for 40 years. Born in Anderson, he is a graduate of Markleville High School. He lives in South Madison County with his wife, Susie. He may be contacted at [email protected].