Friends in Chicago - Old and New

It was sad for me to leave Minnesota: my three brothers & sisters-in-law, nephews & nieces, cousins, aunts & uncle, knowing we won't see them until next summer. When I was in my 20s, we had forever to connect with one another but, by now, life is going by too quickly. Once a year is so little time. The nephews and nieces are growing up so quickly. Death is already taking the generation just above me. They say that family becomes more important as you grow older. I think “they” are right.

But despite sad farewells in Minnesota, we had joyous reunions in the Chicago area. First we visited Bob and Faye Anderson, friends from China. They taught at Xiamen University when I studied there 20 years ago. Bob and Faye just retired to the U.S. one year ago—in their late 80's! It was a treat to see Sarengerl, their Mongolian-Chinese “daughter” at the same time.

Next we visited Genzo and Ellen Yamamoto, friends from Yale days. Genzo is a professor of history at Wheaton College and Ellen is homeschooling their two wonderful children. Matthew and their daughter, Erica, hit it off immediately and had such a great time engagin in fantasy role play that I was solemnly instructed that we were to return to Chicago again so that we could visit the Yamamotos soon.

Chicago was great. Best of all was The Field Museum of Natural History. If you ever go to Chicago, you must visit the museum! But give yourself two days; it's huge. But best of all, we got to meet Sue! The real Sue, not just a cast model of Sue! Who?, you may ask. Sue: the largest and most complete T-Rex ever excavated. She is a beauty! The rest of the museum—the little we saw—was also fascinating.

En route to Indiana, we stopped by a really old friend's house: Lorene Garlick Franklin. Lorene and I go back to fourth grade. We were majorettes (baton) together in 7th-9^th grades. (My mom was our instructor & coach!) We hadn't seen each other since 11th grade! Was it ever fun to catch up. Someone had even recently posted an old picture of us at a performance on Facebook. Hilarious.

Farewell Chicago. Farewell Sue. Farewell dear friends. It was lovely to see all of you!