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April 17\nby Rhonda Dedyne
\nWhen you’re young, you think of things differently than when you’re old – “old” being a multi-purpose word.
\nThinking about the why or how of life – the circumstances and particulars that are inherent in the rhythm of a family and how your parents felt at the time when you were a child – are not at the forefront of a young person’s mind. At that age, no time is spent contemplating how you will feel decades later – what your parents meant to you; how they felt when you were young; what they endured to create the being you ultimately become.
\nIt’s impossible to imagine.
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\nAt my desk is a photo of Mom cooking on the old stove at our home on Forest Hill Road in Riley Township. She’s intent on preparing my brother’s dinner on Confirmation Sunday in 1956. While I do not recall being in that kitchen at that particular time, somewhere deep inside I remember all those kettles on the white enamel stove. I was four years old then, but unanswered questions spring into my mind now: was it heated by wood? Must be – stove pipe in the photo. And I wonder – who took the picture and with what kind of camera?
\nAnd even more intriguing, why, – in April 2014 – am I for the first time questioning who took this photo that I look at every day and think about my Mom each time I do?
\nI admire the hand-made apron covering her best Sunday dress. She is smiling – lifting a roaster or pan of some sort off the burner onto the counter. I do not remember the kitchen looking like this – but I do.
\nSomewhere in my mind, I do remember.
\nMarcella Witt Kloeckner was born in that home on April 17, 1917, and she passed away Dec. 7, 2008. My father, Clemens Kloeckner, was born May 7, 1914 – nearly a century ago. We were with him on May 22, 2003, when he passed away in our home that he shared with my Mom for 62 years. Their love and guidance remain with us always – a testament of faith, hope and charity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"