FAMILY AFFAIRS.

• Date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Lueders, Bill

In mid-October, I flew to Oakland, California, to meet my grandson, Felix Kyle Lueders-Morrison. He was born on October 6 at a hospital in Berkeley, to my son Jesse and daughter-in-law Lauren. He was, in my arms, "this seven-pound universe, full of all possibility," to quote the late songsmith Marques Bovre.

When Jesse was born thirty-five years ago, I wrote about my fear for his future. The wars, the bombs, the lies. Of course I fear for my grandson, too, and have plenty of reasons to do so. But I also have reasons to be optimistic. Look at how much better the world is because it has Jesse and Lauren in it!

Meanwhile, a different drama has been playing out here in Wisconsin regarding my mom, Elaine, who is ninety-seven. In late October, just hours before she was to be discharged from a short stay at a physical rehabilitation center, the Milwaukee-area senior living facility...