A life well lived

Ernie Norback - a loving husband, a world traveler, a English partner, a community leader, a lawyer and business owner, an intellectual, a loving, caring family man, and a grandfather to me.  I am very sad that he passed away this year in Feb at the age of 96.  I have known him since I was 11 years old when my father introduced me to him and his wife Aileen as his Stanford English partners - someone who helped my dad learn English.

We have kept in touch ever since - had many dinners talking about the latest travel, books, politics. and in fact Ernie and Aileen have been my American grandparents attending all my major milestones including meeting various boyfriends, my husband and my daughter, attending my Stanford graduation and my wedding in 2007.  I will always remember his enthusiasm for life, for debate, for travel and his constant curiosity and I am always in awe of how mentally sharp he was even in his 90s.

I will miss him dearly but I have to let him go as Cancer had caused him so much pain in the last few months of his life.  I do believe in some kind of heaven above and I hope he is looking down on us smiling as he realize how much I appreciate he and Aileen's presence in my life and how the way he lived his life has inspired me to live mine also with passion and adventure.  I will always remember him in my heart.

- Lei

Almost a century apart!

Ernie and Aileen Norback are my parents' good friends from back in the Stanford days. They were actually my dad's English partners when he first came to the states and I met them when I was only 12 years old.

We have kept in touch with them all these years and they literally watch me grow up and now married with a daughter. Isabel, Agnes, and I went to visit them last week and it was so precious to see them play with Isabel.

Isabel is 4.5 months old and both Aileen and Ernie are 94 years old - almost a century apart. What different experiences Isabel will have in this next century. Time is so fleeting if you think about it. For now, it was so nice to see the delight in their faces when they met Isabel. Isabel also took to them nicely. :-)

-Lei