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MEET
THE AUTHORS- MIKE LINK & KATE CROWLEY
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We
live in the country near Willow River, Minnesota surrounded by
Willow River State Forest with our dogs Leopold and Sigurd and
our cats Flora and Pumpkin. Our home is our personal paradise
with trails in our prairie, pine woods, and oak savannah. Here
we encounter nature everyday and that is important for us.
I am the director of the Audubon Center of the North Woods near
Sandstone, MN where I have been since 1971. My passion is in my
teaching, in my love for nature, and my need to help others connect
with the natural world. Kate works at the Audubon Center as well.
She is the coordinator of community events, Elderhostels, and
adult programs. She runs the store and prepares the newsletter.
She loves birds and being outside. She is an avid cross country
skier and is committed to helping our grandchildren learn about
the outdoors.
We are both authors who write for Lake Country Journal, Minnesota
Good Age, Minnesota Trails and other magazines and combined they
have published 17 books and the new series on grandparent experiences
touches on all their interests - nature, grandchildren, education,
and travel.
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Mike
Link
The role
of the Grandparent is significant, and played an important part
in the lives of Kate and I and our children. I spent all my “non-school”
time living with my grandparents in a small town in Wisconsin,
while my father worked evenings and weekends to try to get us
out of the poverty that surrounded us. It was not a desertion
of responsibility, but rather a sharing and, ultimately, I grew
up an “only child” with six parents – my mom
and dad, my father’s parent’s, my uncle Clarence and
aunt Agatha and my cousins – Elaine and Lois, who became
my “sisters”. Kate was comfortable enough to let her
family move to Iowa and remain in Minneapolis with her Grandmother
to complete her high school years and move on to college. How
lucky we were to have this safety net.
I think of my childhood and it is filled with images of picking
blackberries with Grandma, playing catch with Grandpa. I was never
a visitor, I felt that their home was my home. This is what we want
for our grandchildren. Our home, our land, our love is theirs and
the wonderful thing is – they are ready to give their love
in return!
In the Lakota Indian society the grandparent/grandchild relationship
is entwined in family connections that confuse the non-Indian. The
grandparent’s brother or sister is called a grandparent, rather
than an aunt or uncle and it is recognized that these additional
grandparents possess levels of experience that provide the child
with the appropriate options to grow strong and make good decisions.
It also provides multiple sets of eyes to discipline and lead the
child. While this system may have been damaged by the artificial
pressures of the reservation, it is not a concept that is completely
loss. My Ojibwe aunts and uncles on the Lac Court O’Reilles
reservation in Wisconsin were always welcoming and I was never uncomfortable
on any of my childhood visits because I knew I was accepted.
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Kate
Crowley
Most
of us, if we’re lucky, have known our grandparents. We are
even luckier if those grandparents lived nearby and enriched our
lives by their interest and enthusiastic involvement in our lives.
Older grandparents and those of the generation who are just now
becoming grandparents are the last generation where a majority us
can remember a time when grandparents lived on farms or in small
towns. We can recall the easy, simple times spent with these adults
who indulged us and shared their memories of a time that today seems
as remote and as removed as the Middle Ages. Since we carry those
memories and experiences with us, we have the opportunity to share
them with a generation being born into a century with untold opportunities
and unfortunately, too many dangers.
As
we age, we reflect on our childhoods and even though the mists of
time tend to spray a cloud of gold over those days, we know that
in those simpler days of our lives, there were experiences that
gave us great pleasure and cemented the bonds with the elders who
shared themselves with us.
By
the time I was born, I only had two living grandmothers. One lived
in California and I have very fuzzy memories of her. She only visited
us a handful of times and I really don’t recall her as being
particularly warm or even interested in interacting with me or my
siblings. My other grandmother lived just a block away from our
house and though her Germanic heritage didn’t incline her
towards a warm, cuddly exterior, I had over 20 years of close acquaintance
with her. I even lived with her for four years during and after
high school. She was working woman into her 80’s - ironing
clothes for people and caring for one or two elderly people (often
younger than her) in her home, so she didn’t have the time
or personality to get down on the floor and play with us. But her
house was always open and we wore a path through our neighbor’s
backyards to get there. She had a few old toys and books for us
to play with and a big old piano to make noise on, but mostly we
came over to visit and if we were lucky, on a hot summer day, she’d
make us a root beer float.
A
Sunday ritual for the first 16 years of my life was dinner at “Ma’s”,
as we called her. Roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, cooked
corn, cabbage salad, and either apple or custard pie. I only have
to think about it and I’m coming through her front door into
a room moist with the steam of cooked vegetables and an aroma that
fills me with contentment.
This
is what I propose about our most firmly held memories of time with
our grandparents. They are tied to our senses. – all of which
are much keener as children – smell, sight, sound, touch,
and taste – these are the things that will stay with a child
as they grow to adulthood and recall time with their grandparents.
That and laughter.
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