In Quest of Parenthood
Book Two of Sea Foam on the Sand Memories of a Charmed Life
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
SEA FOAM ON THE SAND
Wither, gray dashing
wave?
Half the world you've come,
Writhing, and dancing, and bursting
Into joyous froth.
For what?
To break asunder in one final frantic fling,
And then, to flow away
Forgotten,
Dead, spiritless undertow,
In a living sea;
Leaving behind you to remind us that you've lived
Only this foam tapestry
That lies here, melting in the sun.
***************************************************************
PREFACE
I wrote the poem, "Sea Foam
on the Sand" when I was still quite young, perhaps sixteen years old. That was a long time ago! As I was putting the final touches on my
memoirs, it seemed to me that this little poem would be an appropriate centerpiece
for a book summarizing the life of a man approaching his eightieth year. It is a bit disturbing to me to realize that
I have such a limited amount of time left to create whatever "foam
tapestry" I am going to leave so that others can know I have lived. In fact, it is evident that whatever impact I
am going to have has mostly occurred already, in the events and experiences and
family-building that I will be describing in the following pages. I could hope that my treatises, presented in
Part Three, may offer a lasting contribution, too.
But all that is a somber theme,
especially for a person whose life has been wondrously charmed. Charmed?
As in "touched by an angel"?
Certainly not that! I don't
believe in angels, especially the oddly mortal/spiritual variety that
"walk among us" dispensing their angelic agenda and angelic
interventions to pave our way and smooth life's pot-holed highways. The many angelic people that we may run
across in our lives, bless their pleasant presences, are just human beings who
have managed to light the positive fires of their own personalities, often with
help from those who have loved them. And
we should not expect them to produce
any "miracles" for our benefit!
No, I have not been "touched
by an angel", ever. However, as
will be evident as you read these words I have written in recalling my
memories, time and time again my life has proven to have been
"charmed" in the sense that unexpected fortuitous outcomes (UFO's?)
have presented themselves, sometimes "in the nick of time", to avert
what otherwise might have been very unpleasant experiences, including death
itself. Other times, the serendipitous
results have been only to broaden my opportunities for participation in the
truly fascinating benefits offered by this wondrous World and Universe we all
have been privileged to enjoy. I don't
try to explain how or why all this has happened, other than to guess that much
of it may have been because I maintain a consistently positive attitude,
expecting the best, and rejecting the worst; and the rest may have been due to
the generally beneficent nature of existence here in the midst of this
miraculous Universe our Creator has provided for us. Whatever the source of these
"UFO's", I am truly grateful for all of them; and I am delighted to
share my recollections of my "charmed life" with you.
At the end of Part Two, I am
presenting my own list of the "unexpected fortuitous outcomes" that
have entered my life. I have found
forty-three of them! As you read in the
following chapters about the many events that have seared themselves into my
memory, you may want to make your own list of "UFO's" that have
occurred in my life, to compare with my list.
No cheating now. Wait until you have read it
all! It's more fun that way.
You may be prompted, as well, to
make a list of "UFO's" that have graced your own life. You will be surprised!
***************************************************************************
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
So there you have it. You now know the story of our lives together,
of Liz and me, and of the lives of our Children and Grandchildren and
Great-grandchildren, and many of the delightful people we have met and enjoyed
along the way. It is obvious that our
lives have not always been exemplary, and that we have made many mistakes. But we have also managed to make many truly
excellent strategic choices, as well as the many mundane every-day choices
everyone has to consider, as we have searched our way into parenthood and built
our family. We have used only whatever
skills we brought to our marriage either from our own intuition, or from our
parents' teachings, or from other people's input, either verbal or from the
books they wrote. In a very real sense I
have been driven in my efforts to write this book by my desire to repay all of
those sources for their valuable inputs.
And I hope that this "Foam Tapestry" will not "melt in the sun"
before at least a few people may have gained some measure of benefit from the
words I have so carefully put together here.
Why would I reveal in such unblinking detail all my "misdeeds" and our personal limitations with just as much openness as for the many events and experiences of which I am and we are, and should be, very proud? For one thing, I am truly not ashamed of anything I have done in my life nor is Liz ashamed of her experiences and activities. You have to crawl before you can walk, emotionally, and walk before you can run. Each of us would
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
A G.I. is sent into combat, is
captured, starves for six months as a prisoner of war, escapes just before the
war ends, and then returns to civilian life only to realize that after all that
stress his head is not screwed on right.
He rushes headlong into a romance with a woman too fast for his real
moral commitments--but cancels his engagement to her before it is too
late. He is confused and dejected. But not for long. He finds a different kind of girl--not as
flashy but quietly beautiful in her own way, and with an inner strength and
moral integrity as solid as a rock. They
have an intense but respectful courtship and soon get married.
This all sounds like romantic
fiction. But it its
the real beginning of a lifetime of unexpected fortuitous outcomes--what the
author calls UFO'S. He and his new wife
go on from there to build a long and exciting marriage, resulting, at
press-time, in a family of thirty "children", including the
"children-in-law". Sounds like
the "In Quest of Parenthood" was a resounding success, wouldn't you
say?
But the numbers of
"children" are only a small part of the story. This really is a story of love and
dedication. Two people who had been
raised in such divergent family circumstances and culture as these two should
have been expected to falter and fail in their marriage. The textbooks will tell you that. But instead, their marriage became a model of
committed devotion, between them and toward their children.
Are the textbooks wrong? Can people from "opposite sides of the tracks"
come together in a "Blessed Union"?
How could it happen? What made
the difference? The author lays it all
out for you, and you will become a believer.
About the Author
Lee Inscho
is not a callow youth. He has had eighty
years worth of diverse experiences: the challenges of a professional
engineering career; skilled flutist in two symphonic orchestras; composer of
piano compositions; husband/father/grandfather/great-grandfather--to one wife
(for 57 years), six children, ten grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren
(and still counting); spent two and one-half years in the Army, seeing action
in W.W.II in Holland; captured, he spent six months starving as a German Prisoner
of War, and then he escaped. And that's
all just for starters. He and his wife
and their children, as they came along, have roamed this country, camping in
many, many campgrounds, and living (for varying stretches of time) in Wyoming,
Indiana, West Virginia, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, and finally in
Colorado (since 1960). And they weren't
even being chased by the sheriffs! All
those experiences show in his writings.
His first book "In Quest of Manhood" is a graphic account of
his life as he prepared for military action, and then went to war in W.W.II,
including many elements of youthful foibles, but emphasizing his personal
growth and that of his comrades as they were subjected to the stresses of
killing and being killed on those battlefields.
He escaped from prison and returned to friendly forces just before the
war was over. On his return he
reoriented his life into an aggressive participation in the challenges of
married life, including enthusiastic parenting, and the development of his professional
career. After all that activity he
finally has found the time to write about it.
And now he will see what comes next!