09/07/1945.....
Today, my
grandma Petra died. She was 85 years old, and
God love her, she was perpetually just a bit
"off" due to suffering a "milking-related" head
injury. At the age of 15, she was milking the
family cow, made it angry, and it kicked her in
the head. After that, grandma used to throw her
shoes at the dinner table when the grandkids
would make her angry! My grandma was,
apparently, a sweet-tempered lady with rather
poor taste in men. At the age of 25, she picked
up herself, my father (who was then three) and
left my grandfather with their other four
children, to go shack up off
with my step-grandfather, Mr. Martin, a
gentleman of smooth talk, blonde good looks, and
much Anglo-Irish charm, which, alas, swiftly
devolved into a predilection for drinking and
playing pool (between fathering six more kids).
He died relatively young, presumably of drink
and exhaustion. My Dad's youngest (half) sister
insists to this day that Grandma legally married
Mr. Martin, but I don't see how - it was the
1920s, she was poor, they were all Roman
Catholic, and I have never been able to find a
record of the marriage anywhere. (I looked, too,
just to make my aunts angry!)
Anyway,
they let me have the braid of hair they cut off
- it must be three feet long and is as thick as
my forearm, with a smattering - very little - of
white hair almost the color of dark chestnut.
She was so healthy up till the end.... I want to
be as healthy as she was! That's why I workout
and train other people, to live a long, happy,
and healthy life!
12/25/1950.....
Beautiful
Sunday! My brother Thomas had his homecoming
today at school. He was homecoming king and had
to do a speech! My Grandpa V and Aunt P and her
family came to Jersey from Pennsylvania to visit
Aunt M and my family. They drove over and came
to our house for Thomas’s speech, and the school
choir sang a musical number. It was fun!
They
invited members from the audience so Grandpa
went up! Grandpa sang opera in college and did
radio announcing; he has a big beautiful bass
voice. And it’s still strong, even with his
walker and failing health. My aunt died last
year during my junior high school graduation.
She had played the piano and taught all her
children to play.
We lived
far away from the rest of our family for most of
my life. My mom’s family lives in California,
my dad’s in New Jersey. Lately we’ve had a few
family members move to Texas for their jobs. And
others are visiting more because of that.
So this
was the first time we’ve had a family gathered
together like this in Texas. Aunt M played the
piano, Grandpa, Dad, Thomas, Uncle B, Aunt M,
me, my sis, and Cousin B sang together. All
these big, beautiful voices, all coming from the
offspring of two special souls, Grandma and
Grandpa. It was so special! That's what it's
about! Family! Yeah, that’s what it is all
about!
