"Baba" is Papa. Papa is grandpa, my dad. Tae and I look at a few photos of baba somewhat regularly. There is one on the fridge of my mom and dad sitting at the kitchen table in Minneapolis, reading the paper, and drinking Grain Belt Premiums. It was a very funny photo and at the time it was taken I remember thinking it was very funny. My dad was very sick at the time; he is very thin and bruised in the picture. My parents absolutely hate beer, especially cheap beer, which makes it all the more funny.
Another photo is the picture in the living room of the entire family, including Mike ( Kass' husband ) and Hansi ( my husband and Tae's dad ). In the photo, everyone is wearing Norwegian sweaters made in Valle, Norway, our native town. Everyone except for Nana. She is german and couldn't bear the thought of wearing a Norsk Sweater.
The third photo is in our hallway and is of Papa walking me down the aisle at our wedding. Although he was sick at the time, he doesn't look sick. He looks like a handsome dog ( as he would say ) and I am quite proud of him in his lovely summer suit on a lovely summer day.
Well those are the three photos. There is another photo at my office, it is the one that you see here and the one that is on the Memorial Card that we made for him. Tae has never seen it before. We sat at my desk near the photo today and suddenly Tae exclaimed " Baba!" "All Done!".
He recognizes baba and he recognized that he is "all done", whatever that means for him. I love that.
Ode to: Carter Blaine Harstad, my dad, Tae's baba
Tae Carter Harstad-Johnson, our son, Baba's grandson
