The imminent threat of death facing all of us from the COVID-19 Pandemic should prompt a desire to reconnect with family members and friends, including forgiving and reconciling with them and asking for the same from them for your misdeeds.[1]
My wife and I have been doing that. My own family is small. We have good relations and frequent contacts, now only by email, telephone and Skype, with our two sons and daughters-in-law and five grandchildren, as well as a former daughter-in-law. The only other members of my own family are two cousins (sister and brother)and some of the children of three deceased cousins. I have good relations with one of the living cousins, but they are infrequent because we live in different parts of the country. I, therefore, was very pleased last year when she came to my 80th birthday party. The other cousin also lives in yet another part of the U.S., but for reasons unknown to me, he refuses to have any communication with me (and others, I am told). Nevertheless, I still try to reconnect with him. Recently I reconnected with a daughter of one of my deceased cousins that led to my posting of a moving poem by her deceased sister. [2]
I also have been initiating contacts with my former high school classmates from Perry, Iowa and we are talking about having a mini-reunion since we did not have one for the 60th anniversary of our high school graduation.[3]
Similarly I have been re-initiating contacts with some of my best friends from Grinnell College. So far we are not talking about a physical reunion after the pandemic shelter-in-lace regime is over. But we are sharing memories and I have been engaging in research and writing obituaries for recent deceased classmates.[4]
In addition, I have been communicating with classmates from the University of Chicago Law School. Last fall before the pandemic, I went to Chicago to attend a dinner honoring one of those classmates, David Tatel, now a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and for a small luncheon gathering of David and other classmates. These meetings and conversations are enjoyable and memorable.[5]
Now I have to initiate contacts with friends from my two years of study at Oxford University [6] and from my four years with a Wall Street law firm[7] and the following 31 years with a Minneapolis law firm.[8]
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[1] The current pandemic and sheltering-at-home have prompted ongoing reflections on living through the pandemic, which are recorded in the following posts to this blog: Pandemic Journal (# 1): Kristof and Osterholm Analyses (Mar. 23, 2020); Pandemic Journal (# 2): Westminster Presbyterian Church Service (03/22/20) (Mar. 24, 2020); Pandemic Journal (# 3):1918 Flu (Mar. 27, 2020); Pandemic Journal (# 4): “Life” Poem (Mar. 28, 2020); Pandemic Journal (# 5): POLST (Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) (Mar. 29, 2020); Pandemic Journal (# 6): Maintaining Physical Fitness (April 1, 2020); Pandemic Journal (# 7): Latest Statistics (April 2, 2020).
[2] Pandemic Journal (# 4): “Life” Poem (Mar. 28, 2020).
[3] Growing Up in a Small Iowa Town, dwkommentaries.com (Aug. 23, 2011).
[4] My Grinnell College Years, dwkcommentareis.com (Aug. 27, 2011). I have been surprised to discover that writing obituaries has become one of pastoral care for the families of the departed. (See My First Ten Years of Retirement, dwkcommentaries.com (April 23, 2011).
[5] My Years at the University of Chicago Law School, dwkcommentaries.com (Dec. 27, 2011); Judge David Tatel Honored by Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, dwkcommentaries.com (Oct. 29, 2019).
[6] My Oxford University Years, dwkcommentaies.com (Aug. 30, 2011).
[7] Lawyering on Wall Street, dwkcommentaries.com (April 14, 2011). In addition, some of the cases from this period are discussed in posts identified in List of Posts to dwkcommentaries, Topical: LAWYERING.
[8] Lawyering in Minneapolis, dwkcommentareis.com (April 18, 2011). In addition, some of the cases from this period are discussed in posts identified in List of Posts to dwkcommentaries, Topical: LAWYERING.
Duane: It was great to receive this blog, with access to others. Thanks for keeping me on your “list”, even though my response(s) leave(s) something to be desired.
I cherish my Grinnell connections, which are few but WONDERFUL: John Price (’60; he just finished a draft of a major book on Nixon, which may be published by the U. of Kansas); Duane Kronnke (’61); Bob Myers, living in Aukland NZ, and Steve Umemoto, living in London (’62); Terry Parssinen (’63). Sam Baron was a very (very) close friend, up to his death at 97 two years ago. Bob visited us in Northport when he was back in the states for his 2011 Grinnell 50th Reunion. Henrietta and I stayed with Steve in London in 2012; Steve visited us in Karachi on his way to Thailand, where he participated in Grinnell’s Fifth Year Abroad Program spent a few days with me in Northport about as decade ago. You may remember Betsy Hosick (’62, I believe), whose parents lived near my home in Kalamazoo, and who visited us in Northport about 5 years ago.
We will probably never come to MPLS again, so you will have to come to Northport the next time you’re in our area!
Happy Easter!
Phil
I forgot to add that we see Terry and Carol Parssinen at least once a year, as they are still teaching at the U. of Tampa. Terry is an HIstorian, among his publications is a well-regarded book on the 1938 attempt to assassinate Hitler.
Phil