I remember that this was the first weekend "daycation" Joe and I were taking for 2012. I wanted and needed to attend the Time Out For Women which was being held in Billings, Montana as I felt I needed a serious mental and spiritual detoxing. I had been doing things so long for Joe, I needed something for me.
I had made reservations for us to stay at the Dude Rancher Lodge which is a historic downtown Billings hotel. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was built in 1950. The exterior is a rustic ranch that features weeping brick mortar and full-length porches and the interior is designed with knotty pine paneling, custom-built western-style furnishings, decorative lampshades and carpeting that is adorned with the brands of local ranchers who originally invested in the property. I would definitely stay there again.
The scary part about staying here was leaving Joe while I went to the TOFW. My biggest concern was that he might decide to wander away from the hotel and get lost. I'd "lost" him before in Walmart and was afraid of what might happen in a city the size of Billings. Before I left, I took him to the hotel restaurant and got him settled and made him promise that he'd go back to the room after he ate. I was hoping and praying that because I was going to TOFW that he and I would be protected that all would go well.
When I arrived at the location, I took a seat at the very back of the venue on the last row on one of the three chairs. Although I was quite sure there were people there that I knew, I felt quite comfortable being by myself. It felt so nice just sitting there just soaking up the whole atmosphere. In a short while a lady came and asked if she could sit with me. Of course, I said yes. She asked what I was doing back there by myself and why I had come to the TOFW. I briefly told her about what had been going on in my life with Joe and that I had come with the hope that I'd hear something that I felt was just for me and that I'd leave spiritually and mentally cleansed. We conversed a few more minutes and then she excused herself saying that she needed to get on stage - she was one of the speakers. OMG! This was Merilee Boyack. We later had our picture taken during the intermission. This same lovely lady sent me a copy of one of her books after Joe passed away. She'd heard from another friend that he had died just some three weeks after we'd met at the TOFW.
The best talk of the morning session was by Michael Cox. His wife had died about a year ago and he was still grieving over her death. I took notes of what he said and have since misplaced them these many months later, but I do remember him saying something to the effect that before we look at others weaknesses and put the moat in their eye, we need take the beam out of our eye first. I left the TOFW vowing that I would be kinder and nicer to Joe. I owed that and much more to him.
At the beginning of the lunch intermission, I called the hotel room and Joe's phone several times - no answer. So I hurried quickly back to the room, picking up lunch for him first and found Joe there. When I asked why he hadn't answered the phone - he didn't remember how to do it.
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After I returned and changed clothes, we went out to do some exploring around Billings.
The Boothill Cemetery is on the National Register of
Historic Places. According to local lore, the Boothill Cemetery is the burial ground of Coulson, the rough cow town that preceded Billings which existed from 1877 to 1885. The site has burials as early as 1854.. Deaths were caused by such events typhoid
outbreaks, accidents, suicides, and murders. It is also said that most of the people buried here passed away while wearing their boots on, thus the name, as some speculates.
Boothill Cemetery’s most popular burial is Muggins Taylor, known
for being the scout who carried the news of Custer’s Last Stand to the
world.
People in the cemetery died from drowning, freezing to death, suicide by poison, killed by indians, accidental death being killed by his own gun, struck by a train, bucked by a horse,
died by arrow, etc.
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