In Loving Memory Of...

Four-wheelers, dirt bikes, dirt jumps, rocky road, long trails; this is life I wish I could go back to right now. Jordan, Minnesota is where I long to be, the place where you can always smell hot dogs or hamburgers being grilled, spaghetti or macaroni and cheese being cooked. It’s the place where the dirt is always flying, as well as the people; the place where friends and family are jumping on the leave covered trampoline or swimming in a dirty pool. The atmosphere that surrounds is almost uplifting. You can talk to people, and they love your presence, no one fights anymore, even if you are in the same family. Everyone always has a smile on their face as if to say “hi, welcome to my home.” It’s my utopia, my place of Zen and peace. My cousins live in this wonderful place, it’s their home, and always will be.
Every time my family visits, I finally feel accepted, because people like me for who I am, not what I look like, or how I act. When we arrive, the guys, and sometimes the girls, have mud all over them. This would be because they have been either four-wheeling, or dirt biking. G-Dogg is their team name, they named themselves that after their father, Glen K*****, who died a while ago from Dermatitis, which turned into P.C.P. pneumonia. Without him, many of the team members would not have been born. The rest who were not direct family, were taken in by Glen and treated just like his own kids, brothers, or sisters. Glen put so much passion into racing, that he structured his life around it, and lived for it. He is missed by all, and his legacy lives on in their team spirit.
No matter how much Glen is missed, there is a lot of him in each of his 12 kids, as well as his wife, Pauline. They look so much like their father, it’s hard to cry about him being gone, because you see him in every kid. Racing is a big part of their family’s tradition, so they each have their own dirt bike or four-wheeler. Just watching them fly on the dirt jumps is amazing, whether they land the jump, or crash, it is still a joy to watch. Speaking of joy, Joy is one of a set of twins, or ‘twinnies’ as we call them. They may only be 10, but they still four-wheel in races along side the rest of their family.
Not only are these kids keeping the tradition of racing head-strong, but they are also continuing their dad’s business alive. Glen, before he passed away, owned a car repair shop, and he left it to his oldest children, Tom and Russel, who run it. Tom is the oldest of the two, and the one who looks most like Glen. Together, these two brothers keep the family business running. When you walk into the big garage, it’s like you’re walking into a barn, it is huge. Nicholas, the 11th kid, or second youngest, was taught by Glen, the differences between wrenches, and screw-drivers, even then sizes.
This place in Jordan, Minnesota symbolizes life to me. Mainly because if you pay attention to the life styles of most families, this K***** family is seldom ever on the TV or the computer, they always have meals as a family, they are so close, that you could do nothing to tear them apart. That is inspiring to me, I’m kind of jealous of them actually, I wish my family didn’t fight as much as we do, and even if we are at the K***** house, we still fight, and it could be over nothing. So this place also would symbolize jealousy and dream, simply because that family is my dream, my depiction of a true family, one I wish mine could be like. It can also symbolize love, because everyone loves each other, no matter what happens between people. Memory would be another symbol for this place as well, because I will always remember this place, and the people in it, and the people who have left it. So this place is, for me, in loving memory, of Glen K*****.