A Belated Happy Birthday to my Dad, including Songs

My dad's 82nd birthday was actually on Friday, March 11 of this year, but we moved the big celebration forward a few days to yesterday --- the first day of Spring, March 20.  My brother was gone the weekend before, and my mom had time to put together a special afternoon.  She reserved the community room where she lives, and brought my dad home from the nursing home for the afternoon.  We had crackers, meat and cheese, potato salad and pasta salad, chips and other snacks, and of course, cake and punch and coffee.  If you're Scandinavian, you have to have coffee.

My mom invited a few family members -- my dad's sister and her family, my mom's sister and brother and a couple of my cousins.  Their pastor showed up at some point, which I thought was really sweet.  He had his "Gustavus Adolphus College" sweatshirt on.  He's Swedish, too.

Also, my mom invited the Swedish Male Chorus to come and give a little mini concert for my dad. 

My dad sang with the chorus for several years.  Of course, he had to be egged on for a few years by his friend, Ralf.  My dad has always loved music and singing.  I'm prejudiced, but I thought he sounded a little big like Bing Crosby.  He didn't sing in choirs much, though, until he finally broke down and joined the Chorus.

My grandparents emigrated from Sweden back in the early 1900s.  My dad grew up in the Cedar Riverside and Seward neighborhoods of Minneapolis, both enclaves of Swedish immigrants back then.  In fact, it was either Cedar or Riverside which was nicknamed "Snoose Boulevard" because of the cheap tobacco that the immigrants chewed.

So the men came, in their suit jackets and all wearing their blue and yellow ties, and they sang for my dad, there in the foyer.  They sang "They Shall Have Music" and "Sverige" and other songs in Swedish and in English.  And, sitting in his wheelchair in the front row, my dad sang along. 

The chorus invited everyone to sing along on the last song, "Halsa Dem Darhemma."  (Greet those at home.)  I remember learning and singing this song as a little girl.  It is supposed to be sung by a girl as she is leaving her home in Sweden to go to America.  She sees a swallow, and asks the swallow to take a message to her family back in Sweden for her.

I remember singing this song with my sister, singing for my grandmother, and seeing her cry when she heard it.  I remember once that my sister and I sang the song into the phone to her, though I don't remember why.  We lived in town, not far away.  Maybe she was sick, and we just wanted to cheer her up. 

On Sunday the Chorus invited us all to sing along, and my dad sang, and I sang.  And we all cried.

We have all come a long way.  But may we never forget where we came from.

Happy birthday, Dad.

Product Placement

I got some lovely presents a few weeks ago at my birthday party. But one of them was a complete surprise. A friend of my husband and mine stopped by late in the afternoon with a card and an apology for her lateness. Everyone else had already gone home.

When I opened the card, there was some tissue paper inside. There was also a pen. And not just any pen. It was a Namiki retractable fountain pen.

I love pens. I have loved pens ever since I was a little girl, and I wanted my mom and dad to get me the 12 pack of pens you could get for Christmas at the local Woolworth's store. One of my high school teachers suggested that I switch from ball point pens to fountain pens long ago (this was before gel pens and roller balls were even a gleam in someone's imagination). I do have one fountain pen, a Lamy brand, which I consider affordable. And I have looked at the Namiki pens when we trek over to our local pen store, usually to pick up refills. But I have never dared to hope that I would ever actually own a Namiki retractable fountain pen. It is a luxury beyond my means.

Our friend had filled up the little cartridge (called a bladder) with a kind of blue-ish black ink. She showed me how to do this, for when I would want to refill it myself. But I didn't have any ink or cartridges yet.

Sunday I ran out of ink, so we went over to the pen store to get some bottled ink and some cartridges. We discovered that the pen lacked something like a 'cartridge cover' needed when you use a cartridge rather than bottled ink. Since it is an older model pen, he didn't have any replacements in the store.

So today I called the company, and explained my dilemma. She asked whether I could get a replacement locally. I named our store, and said that they didn't have any on hand. "Oh, that's too bad," she said. "Why don't I send you a complementary one?" And she took my name and address. She also gave me some good websites that I could go to for information about their products.

I told my husband, "That was one of the most pleasant conversations I have ever had with customer service."

After a moment, he replied, "It's because they think we're rich."

I'll bet Rolls Royce customers get pretty good customer service, too.

Church yesterday

It was a big day in church yesterday, and mostly NOT because of my great sermon. It was a great day for me because we had, for our Adult Forum, the director of the Benedictine Center in St. Paul, here to teach us about Lectio Divina. It turns out that he is a Lutheran; he and his family worship at a church in St. Paul near the capital. The only thing I'm sad about is that I never get to go to the adult forums, because we have worship services all morning. This is one that I would have liked to attend.

Then, after our 10:00 service, our U.S. Representative Keith Ellison came for another adult forum. It turns out that someone from my congregation works with his office in some or another capacity (although I'm not sure exactly how that is). We are part of his district, and he wanted to come and tell us some of the things they are working on in Congress. He came to worship as well. He sat in the back and of course, since he is a Muslim, he didn't come up for communion. I didn't get to hear him either, as I was leading another worship service at that time. So I can't tell you anything about the content of his message.

Also, for the first time this last Sunday, we included prayers for healing and anointing at our last worship service, for anyone who would like to be prayed for. We will include a service of healing every month at the last service on the last Sunday of the month. I am glad for this.

Then I went home, and my husband had organized a little surprise party for me, with cake and coffee, and sushi, salad and snacks. And presents.