Pledging Allegiance

As I traveled to my mother's funeral back in Sweden in 1999, I realized that my role had changed drastically. I was now the older generation and the guardian of my parents' legacy. The fact that I am an only child makes this responsibility even more poignant. I reflected on these things as I met friends and relatives at the funeral, some of whom I had not seen for more than 25 years. Most of them lived only a short distance from where they were born. I, on the other hand, had left my "home port" and tied up for longer or shorter periods in several places on another continent. My relatives find much of their sense of belonging in their surroundings and familiar places. Having lived in eight different homes in four states in America and two countries since my wife and I were married, my sense of belonging is somewhat less geographically based.

I will describe some of the formative events and adventures that have brought me to retired life in Colorado and near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. There have been many changes and surprising turns on this journey of life. But some things have not changed: my beliefs and values based on my Christian worldview.