19. Carol & Carl Haag

This may look like a rather ordinary couple, but I assure you they are not.

When you were a kid, did some people have a mythical status? For me there were some people who just seemed more alive. And I was always excited to get together with them. Like Santa Claus, or the Haags.

What made the Haags so special?

With them, somehow, anything seemed possible.

The Haags had an amazing house.

They had an actual hidden room. You couldn’t see the door because it blended right into the wall. Carl would move his hands around in a distracting way and suddenly the door would pop open.

The Haags knew how to cook.

Everyone I knew in the 70’s made hamburgers and meat loaf and canned green beans. The Haags made things from scratch like soups and soufflés and food with sauces.

The Haags were grand adventurers.

Each summer they would plan a grand adventure somewhere in the world, then come back and regale us with stories and slideshows.

The Haags have big wide hearts.

They are involved in human rights campaigns and outreach and teaching and charities. And on the day my dad died, Carol, who’s an ordained minister, lead us in our own sweet, little memorial ceremony. Just our family, just in our living room.

The Haags are unstoppable.

 Each and every day of the pandemic, Carl (who is now in his 90’s) has sent out an email to his 100s of friends and fans. With a collection of jokes, or an uplifting video, or a personal memory. Flinging a little bit of joy into the world each day.

What do I love about them?

The Haags are sweet, affirming, experimental, creative, different, lively, adventurous, and bringers of radical acceptance.