On Saturday, a 90th birthday party was held at Old Westbrook Lutheran Church, Westbrook, Minnesota, for my dad’s long-time friend, Roger Kopperud. (Roger and his wife, Marian, have been long-time supporters of Lutherans For Life.)
The family shared this wonderful poem Roger wrote in April 2009.
87?
I got there somehow
I can’t walk behind my mule and my plow
I used to plant gardens of carrots & peas
I can’t do that anymore
I’m weak in the knees.
I used to make a pile of wood.
I’d do it again if I could.
I can’t hold a pitchfork in my hands anymore
My hands are weak and my back is sore.
Some day I will sit in my chair and look out the door
and think of by-gone days of yore.
I have a great grandson far over the seas.
The next time I see him he will speak Chinese.
So I’ll have to ask him, “Interpret it, please.”
Some day I will park my car in the shed.
Then I’ll go sleep in the Murhpy bed.
I don’t write this to complain and moan.
Because I know I have a heavenly home.