Keith is as Keith does.

Keith was an avid movie goer. He really loved the movie Forrest Gump. I never quite got that movie. But that's okay many people never quite got Keith and I always appreciated Him.

Keith liked the movie so much that he gave his Daughter Sara the middle name Jenny. (Melchior had already been taken.)

The problem was that nobody did a worse Forrest Gump impression than Keith. The real problem was that no one did a more frequent Forrest Gump Impression than Keith. I mean how many times does a guy need to say "And that's all I have to say about that" which by the way it is.

Keith won't be at Chuck-E- Cheese. Rats!

We have a family tradition of celebrating our kids 4th birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. These pictures are from 6 years ago when Emma turned 4. We just sent out the invitations for Lucy's party next month.

The hardest thing about the upcoming party for us is no Keith. He and Lynne always made time for any occasion our kids were having, a football game, a dance recital, even an opportunity to spend time with a 6 foot rodent. The place won't be the same without Him.

Veteran's Day

Keith loved having his birthday on Veteran's day. He loved telling people that kids get the day off to celebrate his birthday.

I consider myself a veteran this year. A veteran of grief and loss. But I am also glad for the opportunity to celebrate Keith's birthday and his life today. It is something we can do whenever we think of Him.

And you thought his middle name was bad!

We were very glad when Lucy was a girl. We had no idea what name we would give her had she been a boy.

I recently asked my Mom why Keith had the name Keith. When I say recently, I just got off the phone with her. Her answer: Because it went well With Bertram.

My Grandpa (My Mom's Dad) was named Bertram Friedrichs. Everybody I knew called him Dad. Grandpa or Bert. Bertram's a mouthful. But wait until you get load of his middle name: Melchior! According to Catholic tradition, Melchior was one of the names of the 3 Wise Men.



The Bible doesn't indicate how many wise men their were but since their were 3 gifts, many traditions and portrayals of Jesus life depict 3.

My Grandpa Friedrichs died a few months after Keith got married. He was at the wedding and was around as his namesake started his own family.

I'm just glad that Bonnie was a girl or else my Mom may have wanted to name her something that goes with Melchior!

The International Impact of Keith Part IV

The first summer I lived in Russia Keith visited me for a few weeks. One day we were on a bus headed over to have a dinner at the house of 2 of my students. While on the bus we encountered someone having some difficulty communicating in Russian. It turns out he was a Brazilian missionary who had just gotten into the country. He spoke no English, and very little Russian. He was fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. I used to be a fair hand at Spanish but lost most of Enter Keith who was practically fluent in Spanish. We ended up inviting (I think my students were with us on the bus) him to join us at the dinner.

The dinner was a very unusual affair my student's Mom spoke no English, Spanish or Portuguese but was very interested in talking with the Brazilian. So here's what we did our host asked a question in Russian, I translated it into English, Keith translated it into Spanish. The Brazilian would respond and Keith would translate it into English and I would translate it into Russian. Talk about having to sing for your supper.

Keith really enjoyed being useful and a focal point of the evening.