How many persons really listen to you? The deep listening that hears the end of the story with all its nuances and no interruptions? If you are fortunate, perhaps two or three at most? Today Tom and I embarked on a listening tour. We began by visiting Springfield, MN., Tom's home town. We saw the church where his grandfather and father were pastors and where he learned to play the organ. He took us to visit their graves, we saw the school, the building that housed the family drug store, the golf course, lunched with his friends who are attorneys in town and much more. The best part were the stories that each of these sites evoked. Tom's a special friend, though of recent acquisition, and so I listened with rapt attention as that was a gift I wanted to give him. My reward were the revelatory stories which came as we visited the various sites.
After a great tour of Springfield we headed west to The Little House on the Prairie. Near The Little House, we stopped first at the Bergh Cemetery where my brother, grandfather and grandmother, Bergh, uncles and aunts are buried. In 1884 my grandfather, newly ordained and graduated from the Hauges Seminary in Red Wing, MN., was sent to Brookings Co., SD. to found a church. The church was on the grounds of that cemetery.
From there we traveled to the cemetery was Joanne is buried. It is sixteen months ago today that Joanne died. As I listened to Tom in Springfield, so now he s listening to me. This is neat model, i.e., this deliberately visiting each other's site and giving opportunity to talk at length about that which is important to us. Friends, aren't they wonderful?
Takk for alt,
Al
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