In the mid 1880's a woman in mid-state Vermont gave birth to twin boys. The labor was long and arduous and her bleeding was profuse. She died a short time later. The father was unable to care for the infants and they were seperately absorbed into two local families taking on their names. One of the twin boys was my grandfather. In his adulthood he moved to south central Massachusetts. He married and had four children. Three girls and my father. He suffered from severe melancholia and drank hard to find his way out. He was abusive and his wife often had to provide for the family. A few years before the great depression, a delivery man would come by and drop off groceries that my grandmother had ordered from the local market. He would always place a few extra items neatly tucked away which she would discover in the unpacking. They developed a relationship that soon had him moving to northern Vermont to prepare a place for them. The four kids were old enough to take care of themselves, they reasoned. Once settled, he wired her bus faire and she boarded for a new start at life. Once the plan was discovered, my father hitchhiked the 300 miles of backs roads and bi-ways to get her back. Once he arrived and located them, he roughed up her suitor and they took the long bus ride home together. Not long after they arrived home, she was back on the bus and returned to Northern Vermont where she lived out her life. Her suitor was the only grandfather I ever knew and my father loved him. There is so much more to this story. We all have interesting family histories, do we not?
Happy Valentine's day!!!!
Yeah, yeah, I know. Hallmark day. Just a bunch of crap to make us spend money that we don't have. But that's one man's opinion. Could it be that some dolts NEED specially marked holidays to have them stop and acknowledge their honeys? For me, its different. You see, this week, (2/17) the Lady and me got married. TWENTY-NINE YEARS AGO. That's right. You heard it right. And most of my good buds have been married for as long or longer than we. We think the same thoughts at the same time. We are comfortable and have fun together. As I write, we are for the second time in our years together, in deep financial straights. Hand to mouth. A struggle to eat, to heat, to keep our heads above water. And you know what? I'm as happy as a murder of crows. The Lady and I met at bible study. A few years later, we found ourselves living in the same house. I paid her little notice. She will tell you that she knew we would get married after one our first meetings some years earlier. ...
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