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A moving summer
By Elaine Sommers RichIf two Depression-era children grow up, marry and have four children of their own and hundreds of students, many of them “foreign,” what happens after their 55 years together?
Elaine Sommers Rich
You have no doubt guessed that I am writing about my husband and me. For 29 years we lived in an ideal house in an ideal location on the edge of the beautiful Bluffton University campus. But during those years we grew older, as everyone does. Our bedroom was upstairs, our washing machine in the basement, and I now have difficulty with steps,
When our children were little, we gave them advice. Now it is their turn. “You have to get to a place where Mom can live on one floor!” With the help of an ideal realtor, Richard Boehr, we have done just that and are slowly settling in. Every day we progress a bit.
We thought we had a simple life, but the reality is quite “unsimple.” Boxes and boxes of stuff! (“I might need that some day.”) Enough Japanese bowls and teacups to serve sukiyaki and tea to 50 people. Mechanical and electronic gadgets of all kinds. A radon detector. Test tube holders.
And the sentiment! “My mother’s Aunt Mandy gave her this as a wedding present in 1924.” “Dr. Ouchi gave you this lacquer box as a farewell present when we left Japan.” Jonathan gave me this blue-glass vase when he was just a little boy.” “Miriam wrote this in fifth grade.” (Multiply ad infinitepleasantum.)
Well, life forces changes. We must now learn new routines having to do with eating, sleeping, clothing, equipment and paying the bills.
Ron: “Where is my calendar? I just had it.” Elaine: “Where is my colander? I know I used it yesterday to wash lettuce.”
The summer has indeed been a moving experience in more ways than one.
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