Connection

This poor-quality photo is important to me. It's a picture from 14 years ago of my daughter and my father enjoying a moment together, around the time of her first birthday.

It's pretty easy to tell they're of different races. My daughter is Asian, born in Korea, and adopted by us. She was a happy baby, eager to laugh (as you can see from the photo). She's now a beautiful young lady in high school who is very skilled in photography--she would have taken a much higher-quality photo than this.

My father, who was 74 when the photo was taken, is white; he grew up during the Great Depression and was in the Army Air Force in Africa and Italy in World War II. Now he's 88, and while he and my mother are still living independently (with lots of help from my brother), it's very clear that age is taking its toll on them mentally and physically. I'm trying to see them (in another state) more often because I know the clock is ticking.

However, and this is surprising to me because I've seen other people grow bitter as they age, as they grow older they both express an incredible sweetness, and a love of connection with the people in their lives.

You can see that connection in this photo, between an older man born in America in the Depression and a Korean girl who came across the ocean to join a family.