Reflection No. 70: New York Part II

 The 8 years Jane and I spent in New York were full, full, full!! It all started when Jane became architect, electrician, carpenter and computer guru as we set up offices in the basement of our home. She put up wall paneling, rewired the whole basement, laid new carpeting-and then set up a new computer system. To this day we recall how in those early days of 1984 she explored computer options and even installed a very special Bernoulli Box to store all of our data. Then she took over as LSA office manager and editor of the LSA Newsletter. In between she fielded telephone calls from upset parents of kids in Lutheran schools as we had an agreement with the NY State Education Dept. that any complaints they received would automatically be referred to the LSA office. There Jane responded with powerful active listening skills and empathic understanding.

Our five kids were going through their own transitions gaining new partners, children and occupations. Liz got married in New York while John did the same in Taiwan. Grandchildren were welcomed in Chicago and Michigan.

We (I more than Jane) loved the city of New York and tried to take it all in. It was always great to see the Christmas lights in Times Square. Worship and prayer was very meaningful at St. Patrick Cathedral and The Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Half-price tickets lured us to the Broadway productions. Yankee Stadium, Shea Field and Madison Square Garden were all places for special sporting events. Museums and art galleries of all kinds, and restaurants with every conceivable food options were right there. This was prior to the 9-11 tragedy so we always took our guests for cocktails at the top of the World Trade Center and we even hosted a very special luncheon for Lutheran principals there.

We left New York to explore he world. Either just I or the two of us went to Pakistan, Canada, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Maui and Kauai, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and the Virgin Islands. Unfortunately Jane had to endure three days of incredible anxiety when our sons and I got caught up in the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China and were unable to communicate. So she had no idea where we were or even if we had survived.

As I reflect upon our years together in New York I do so with great satisfaction and gratitude. They were years of special bonding between Jane and me. It was a time to meet, work with, support and be supported by a great variety of good people and to celebrate exceptional experiences. It was also while I was in New York that I turned 65 and decided it was time to retire.