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I miss you Wondering if you've died Since it's been so long Since I've had a letter from you Thank you for being the mentor You were to me At about ten years old Way back in time The lost child Looking for a fantasy The fantasy of living with you Uncle Russell too By the old Anderson Farm Up the hill While you lived at the bottom Of the Anderson property In a house way more modern Than that old farm house Where nine boys and three girls Were born and raised Dairy farmers Milking cows for a living Must have been difficult Never a day off Can't just say "It's the weekend, so could you turn off your milk, Ms. Cow?" 'Could ja somehow?" I thank you for all the memories You sent me over the years Further for teaching me to count in Norwegian And to hear fluent Norwegian spoken During family functions My signal to the Norwegians and back you were There in the cold of Winter's forty below zero As were like back home for Anderson's of the past Stavanger Valley Or the area running up the middle of Norway My Norwegian roots mean the most to me Because I know something of where My kin came to America from on the Norwegian side Hendrickson and Anderson last names Are where you got your husband from Swede and Norwegian married To have twelve children I feel sorry for my grandmother To have that many kids Without birth control What does a woman do, although? In nineteen-twenty-five When she had my dad The first son Fergus Falls was a young town Probably didn't go to a hospital To have a baby It's a wonder the babies lived Poor dad having to be named Elmer After grandpa as was proper For a Norwegian to do Roy is my dad after his middle name Leroy He said he wouldn't name a dog Elmer Good you got the brother named Russell A cool name I think On the other hand Grandmother Ruth Hendrickson/Anderson could have felt blessed To have all those offspring More kids More cow milkers I live you I love you Aunt Marilyn I know you've probably Gone on What's it like? Are you only sleeping until a better time? Maybe you're still here You're still here in my mind I don't forget you ever My beautiful Loving Aunt Marilyn A thirties or forties baby Loving a fifties baby Queen of my heart, dear Aunt If I did anything good in this life It was because you influenced me In your nineteen-sixties lifestyle In your blonde hair In your perfectly decorated house In your doting over me In your heavenly spirit Flesh or no flesh You live in me Forever. 7/25/2017 2338 cjVote for this poem
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