For Our Family, from Leonard and Naomi Greenlee

Описание: A conversation I’ll always be grateful I recorded. Their story, in their own words.

I spent many summers with them in West Plains, MO, and wish more than anything that I could experience just one more.

Because of their love and devotion to God and to each other, they showed me what a home filled with peace truly felt like. There was never a fight, never an argument (at least not in front of me). The air was always light, and the days were always calm.

Long live the days...

Long live the days of playing hide-and-seek in the barn, making secret rooms out of hay barrels. Long live the days spent in the sunroom with the warmth of the afternoon sun on my back as I played with the treasures in the toy box. Long live the days of catching tadpoles in the creek, afraid to slip on the wet flat rocks as water trickled over our toes. Long live the days of washing their motorhome in the heat of the afternoon. Long live the daily walks with Pa after dinner under the dimming sunlight, listening to cicadas and crickets, holding tightly to my walking stick, wondering what it was even for.

Long live the days of helping Nanny in the kitchen, listening to the sizzle of fried zucchini and squash we picked that morning from Pa’s garden. Long live the days of blackberry picking. The bike rides and walks from their house to see Grandma Chris, the moments you’d drive over the hill to see Pa’s freshly cut lawn and vineyard, in awe of how immaculate it looked. Long live the days of helping Pa in the garden, shielded from the sun by one of his straw hats, carefully tiptoeing over the rows to plant the next seed.

Long live the days of watching westerns. Long live the days of feeling safe and protected. Long live the days of light air.

They had seventy-three years of beautiful life together. Seventy-three years to hold hands. Seventy-three years to lean on one another. Seventy-three years of memories together. They built a life whose impact will carry on through generations.