Stella and Levi retire
The boys were harder as little boys because they are constantly fighting and climbing and breaking things, including themselves. But the girl turns out to be much harder to deal with during the terrible teens. When she's thirteen she starts crash dieting, eventually becoming anorexic. The boys in the meantime have a party when Stella and Levi aren't at home and Stella finds a girl's earring under one of their beds. And they drink too much. The middle boy learns French and goes to France as an exchange student. The oldest boy plays football and starts to date a cheerleader. They all graduate high school. The oldest son learns to design computer chips. The middle boy learns marketing. The daughter studies English, which nobody things is a good or practical idea.
You haven't got the guts!
Levi's parents both move to St. Louis because his father has developed Parkinson's disease and they need help. His mother loves St. Louis baseball. They go to games and listen to broadcasts on the radio.
Their oldest son marries the cheerleader and they move to Boston, Massachusetts.
Levi's father dies eventually from complications of Parkinson's Disease. Then Levi's mother dies from a heart attack during a heart-stint procedure. They are both interred at the cemetery in Solano, New Mexico. Stella's mother dies from brain cancer in Reedsport, Oregon, and is buried there. Stella's father comes to live with them.
Pour Georgie Porgie.
The daughter turns in some savings bonds she's had since she was a baby and buys a victorian dollhouse kit. Levi builds most of it but makes her do all the roof tiles. Stella's father helps. He tells everyone how to do things and it's driving Stella crazy. He eventually moves into a retirement home but doesn't like Missouri. The trees die every year and winter is like a big death.
Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes Interlude
Eventually the daughter moves out of the house and goes to graduate school in New York. Stella and Levi retire early when Levi gets a good retirement offer. They spend a year watching the O.J. trial on TV. They adopt a new dog and travel around.
While visiting their daughter in New York for her graduation, Stella's Dad sneaks back to Oregon. He struggles to live on his own but refuses any help. Stella is very frustrated with this. They encourage him to move to a group home but with the help of a nurse, he sneaks out and moves into a hotel. He develops cancer shortly after that and dies at age 99. He is buried next to Levi's mother in Oregon.
Their second son moves to Akron, Ohio, and gets married. Levi is photographed at that wedding with his brother.
By the end of the decade Stella and Levi realize they don't have any reason to live in St. Louis anymore now that all their children have moved away. They decide to move to Lititz, Pennsylvania, near Amish Country. The soon realize, it's very hard to make friends in this very closed community.
The Poem
Love lifts us up
the stairs of the lighthouse
where the light sprays out like an emotion
and from the top of the stairs,
there is only you
surrounded by the glass and railing,
except before you and for you
an ocean of love.
1-2-3
1-2-3
we lose contact
we lose the covenant
tomorrow doesn't exist
tomorrow is much too long.
