May. 08, 2004 - 20:22 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Old And Comforting

There are times when the world gets a bit too much of a much and this guy has to find a place of ease. One place that works well, I think is the good parts of my past.

Going way back into my early childhood are memories of a family who were good friends of my folks. He and my Dad were messenger boys together. My Mom and the wife of Dad's friend were acquainted as they worked together at the same company.

My early memories tell me that we picnicked in one or another of the city parks now and then when the weather was nice. I remember when the girl of the family and I were friends. Soon, a baby sister appeared.

Then Dad's friend was transferred to Colorado Springs, wherein my fondest memories began.

I knew him as Uncle Abe, and you know he acted more like one of the family than Dad's side did. Time went on and more girls appeared, I think Aunt Rae had something to do with that.

Our two families began to picnic at a place just west of our foothills and just east of the Front Range which had picnic grounds near a stream of cold clear water. I had no brothers or sisters, but one or another of my friends went along now and then, a time or two a couple of my cousins came also.

Uncle Abe was joy and happiness personified with loving kindness thrown in for good measure and the bestest picnic cook ever seen. Aunt Rae mothered whichever of the kids were along.

The site was high enough to be in the evergreen trees and cool in the summer, quiet enough that you could hear the breezes blowing through the pine trees. My thought of heaven, it was. Two grown up sets of parents meeting in peace, not disturbed at those times and not ever was a disturbance between them I think.

Body count on their girls eventually became five. I loved them all and saw them growing much like I was, but they were much prettier. I thought of them as my sisters. We seemed to have a happy time together and shared our fun. All of us scrambling through the trees and undergrowth, looking at things, throwing rocks in the creek and other pastimes. Other times we played games common to children everywhere, I think.

It amazes me that the two families had enough food and gas to have an occasional picnic, depression times were a bit dicy. There was always enough hamburgers and hot dogs, onions, relish and dill pickles. Lemonade and coffee for the grown folks. We ate well, but that was not the main thing I think. It was being happily and peacefully together in my eyes. I remember sitting to one side and listening to my Dad and Uncle Abe talking, understanding as much as I could and asking questions to Dad on the way home about things the two of them talked about.

Time passed much too rapidly. Mom and Dad were actively organizing a union in Denver, Uncle Abe had been given additional responsibilities and his oldest daughter was active in her high school. Our get togethers between Denver and Colorado Springs became quite infrequent. At that time I was getting sweet on the girl of the family who was my age, with little opportunity to be around her.

Then there the years of World War Two, my majority achieved, met my love and married her and we started our family. Uncle Abe's daughters went their separate ways. I would hear from my father how they were doing as Uncle Abe and my Dad would have a chance once in a while to talk to each other on the phone while they were doing company business.

The next time we met was at Uncle Abe's funeral, just recently.

Times like those long ago are times that sparkle in my memory, the day of play, eating, sitting around the campfire as evening began, smelling the soul of the pines with coffee of the big ones while sipping on our cold drinks. The thing about that strikes my memory strongly is that we all accepted each other as we were, no fighting, arguing or bad feelings ever.

How wise the grown ups were, It would get dark yet we would be around the camp fire, converstion general. It was a time of feeling that our family was secure and happier than any of us deserved. When the time came to go home, it surprised us kids as it felt as if we would go on as we were forever. Uncle Abe's younger kids were dropping off to sleep as they loaded up to go home. I was a night owl tourist scanning everything I could see and going over in my mind the fun of that day. It was good.

Now in the present day there are problems on top of problems. Problems in the world, deep as the deepest sea which are now becoming somewhat obscured for me by the things happening to us. Our son who has cancer is more or less at a standstill now. His back is heavily blistered and they put off any more radiation or chemo until he gets over that. Heather and I keep on keeping on, trying to help however we can. Both of us trying not to think that we might be burying him before the end of the year. Hoping for a miracle. Life has a way of being very serious.

But tonight I have been in the hills that I knew as a kid, with people I love, around a campfire. A thing Old And Comforting . . . . . . .

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