Old Retired Guy Blog
November 18, 2006
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The Circle Game
When we moved to Portland in 1982 there were still a lot of hopes and dreams for our future. Kathy and I were in our mid-30s, we had two young sons, Eric (6) and Matthew (3), and we were about to move 2000 miles so that I could return to graduate school and start a new career. This was very exciting. My father, Jens Anderson, often came to visit us in the fall. Kathy's parents, Al and Elsie Leuker, also made a number to trips to Portland. Siblings came to visit as well and it was a fun time.
Time, however, plays a tough game and always wins. Soon, the last grandparent passed away and the next generation, the parents and aunts and uncles, started to pass away. One day I read an e-mail about the death of one of my cousins and it dawned on me that my own generation was now on the front lines of life. Although we know that the battle will be lost, we try not to think about it and we fight as hard as we can to keep going. Part of that fight has to do with raising our children so that they can stand behind us when we reach that point where we need a hand. Our hopes and dreams move away from our future lives and start to touch on our children's lives. We now pray for their success and happiness instead of our own. I was lucky enough to be born into a good family. Then I met an incredible woman and was lucky enough to marry into another good family. That incredible woman gave us two sons and we soon had our own good family.
Thanks for all of the good times, Al. I appreciate the fact that despite my often grubby appearance and occasional left-leaning political comments, you welcomed me into your family and always treated me with the Golden Rule in mind. I enjoyed sharing many Leinenkugel's with you, eating brats that you cooked on the grill, and talking about the Packers. But, even though we didn't talk about it, I suspect that your favorite topic was your family.
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My
plan for this blog was to post a few travel photos for the family and talk about
places that we've visited since retirement. I didn't think about writing
anything serious. However, life sometimes has a way of changing your
plans. In this case death changed my plans: the death of my
father-in-law, Albert Leuker. It was sad to watch Kathy and her family
struggle through this hard time knowing that there was little I could do to ease
the pain. And it reminded me of the last days of my father's life. I
found myself thinking of Joni Mitchell's song "The Circle Game." 
