Tag: family
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Hope to love you long
In his post on the emotional intelligence of long experience, Alan Jacobs spotlights a letter from the great 18th century writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson to his younger friend, who at one point thought he had said something to offend Johnson: You are not to imagine that my friendship is light enough to be blown…
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This was my couch
Part of the This Is My series, documenting meaningful objects in my life. This pullout couch was in my grandparents’ lakeshore cabin for decades before I was born. Then it was in my parents’ basement for another two decades or so. Then it was in my apartment for a few years. And now it’s gone…
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How Helen met Cliff
Today would be the 75th wedding anniversary of my grandparents Cliff and Helen. In the oral history of her life, Helen talked about how she met Cliff: I was nineteen when I met him. He asked me if I was twenty-one and I said no. He was twenty-seven, so he was an older guy. I…
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Great Olin’s Raven!
The first baby in my family has arrived. Behold Olin Charles: I’ve made fun of my wife for all the pictures and video she takes of her sister’s kids. I get it now.
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Inherit the Words
I was helping my parents clear out their bookshelves in advance of their living room being painted and in the process stumbled upon some interesting artifacts. Among the books, family photo albums, and LPs that had stuck around unplayed for decades, I spotted a small University of Wisconsin notebook. I opened it to find in…
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The Weight Of History
We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. —Shirley Abbott Today, as on every veterans’ themed day, I thought of my grandfather. A lieutenant in Patton’s…