Family & Friends,

Three years ago I told my second mother, Alice, and my father that I was willing to leave Portland to help them.  They assured me that they were fine.  I told them, “I know and that is why I’m telling you now before you need it.”  Three more winters have passed.  Alice’s mind is sharp as ever in year 89, but during the last six months, she has blacked out five times.  So far the heart monitor has not discovered the cause.  Dad’s body is remarkably strong for 89 years, but his short-term memory is fading so fast that he probably would not know what to do if Alice fainted.  They prepared well for retirement, but their blue-chip General Motors stock went south.  I’m the most flexible of the five kids (a euphemism for aging adult offspring).  So after a family pow wow in Montana, it was decided that I would take a one year leave of teaching (starting July 1) to live with my parents in Saginaw, Michigan. (And I thought that I had escaped humuggity, mosquitoes and the miserable Detroit Lions)  I already miss Multnomah, Aslan’s How and Imago Dei, but don’t regret the decision.  Had the situation be reversed, my parents would not have given it a second thought and would be there to help me.  It is now my privilege to partially return the favor of their many years of sacrifice for us kids.

G

Next Aslan’s How Tour May 1, 2010 (11 am).
Sign up at: gfriesen@multnomah.edu