May 28th…“IS THERE ANY ITEM YOU OWN TODAY THAT IS TREASURED AND PRESERVED FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD?”
To an impressionable little farm boy, like I was, a visit from my father’s sister, Lillian, was like touching base with royalty. She, and her handsome husband, Gene Greenspun, were like “Prince” and “Princess” to me whenever they could make the long journey to our Minnesota farm from the steel and concrete canyons of the legendary New York City, New York. In my little boy eyes, my auntie held every attribute that a princess could possess. Hers was a tall, slim and gorgeous figure that was framed in her long, Norwegian blond hair. Those golden locks framed the most feminine face that Hollywood, itself, would beg for. So impressive was her beauty that, one day, she left her Home State of Minnesota to begin a modeling career in New York. While living there, she encountered and grew to love her very talented man, Gene Greenspun, who was a dynamic business man in the booming toy industry there in the “Big Apple”.
I absolutely idolized both of these precious family members! Both of them gave me their rapt attention whenever they’d vacation with us on our farm. It was upon the occasion of one of those magical visits that Uncle Gene handed me a gift. It was my very own Jeweler’s Loupe (which is a magnifying monocle). I was shown how to carefully unwrap the spring wire so that it would allow me to put it around my head to hug the monocle in place over my eye. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have this new toy that allowed me to see the world super close up! I found myself exploring in a whole new realm I never had the chance to do before. You could often find me on my knees somewhere crawling along the gravel driveway looking for “gems” or in the weeds inspecting tiny bugs that had, up to this point, evaded my exploratory eyeballs. That little jeweler’s magnifying loupe has followed me for over 60 years now. I carry daily, even now in my retirement, so when people have tiny writing that they can’t see properly I offer them to use my loupe. Every time I touch this gift from Uncle Gene and Aunt Lillian, I say, (in spirit to them) “Thank you for your love and my closer look at the world that surrounds this Norwegian Farmer’s Son.”
Norwegian Farmer's Son 