Friends & Family

Friends & Family While Beauty and Love drive us, it is friends and family that provide our foundation and shape our perspective, much of our growth is realized in the give and take within these relationships. Love relationships (as powerful and life changing as they are) come and go, burn hot and cold, and can lead us to states of either ecstasy or madness. It is family relationships and friendships which consume the greater part of our lives, provide the backdrop of Birthdays, Holidays, other notable events, and create many of our lives most defining moments and memories. It has been said that we don't know what we have, until it's gone, that statement often speaks to family. Our immediate family is certainly our cornerstone, but our extended family is multi-generational and includes all of our relatives, and those who are a part of their lives. Together, immediate, and extended family casts a wide net and includes the greatest and the least, the born and the dying, the quietest, almost invisible ones, and most gregarious amongst us all. Friends weave a different sort of cloth, a fabric with its own unique texture. You can't choose your family (as the old saying goes), but you can choose your friends. Another old saying states "They know you by the company you keep" this - speaks directly to our friendships. I have always found it interesting that High School graduates, writing in yearbooks, say that we are "best friends forever" or "nothing will ever divide us" and within a single year all contact is lost, often forever. Life has many moments and events that are similar to this. Life, is a journey, and it is our friends and family that are there to share it with us. Some poets observe and report on this journey and the many paths it takes, and attempt to capture, at least in some small part, what it means - to all of us! This book is a collection of poems that attempt such observations.
About the Author: About the Author: The Uptown Poet Jeff Larson was born and raised in the Hiawatha Valley along the Mississippi River in Southern Minnesota. His childhood was spent in Wabasha MN before a move to Waseca MN, and later to Lake City MN. The family moved briefly to Loves Park/Rockford IL during his High School years then back to Lake City to come full circle. He obtained a B.A. in finance at Georgia State University, Followed by an MBA, and a Masters Certification in Adult Learning. He is a Certified Black Sash Sifu (Teacher) of Kung Fu & Qigong. and the Author of "The Power of Qigong". He has written numerous articles for Inside Kung Fu magazine and is the producer of a Floating Monk Qigong DVD titled "Chi for Health" visit FloatingMonk.com to learn more. He was the fourth of thirteen children (and the second son) who grew up in a hardworking, humble family. The pictures in the book depict these early days and mirror the images of Norman Rockwell paintings. Life was simple and Carefree in those early (small town) times when families lived their lives and pursued their dreams and life on the whole was very, very good. The Poet wishes to recognize and remember everyone who was a part of those special times, his father, mother, sisters and brothers, grandparents, relatives and friends in the Winona MN, Wabasha MN, Kellogg MN and Nelson WI area, especially the Larson's, Gander's and Ever's.