And Mom's side

Mom had two older sisters, one lived in Wisconsin when I was young and the other in California.  I remember we went to Wisconsin once to visit.  I don't remember much about the trip or the visit.  I remember Dad saying stuff about "Oshkosh by gosh".  And, Mom singing, "I love to go a wandering".  My mind tends to "forget" things it considers unimportant.  I knew we had never visited them before and probably never would again.  I grew up in Michigan, California by car in the 1950's was a trip we would never take.

I didn't know much about my mom's sisters.  According to Mom, one got the looks and the other got the brains and Mom got nothing.  I knew the oldest sister was very smart and she was school teacher.  I didn't know what she taught but I knew I would like her if I ever met her.  I liked most teachers, they were pretty smart and, in my eyes, not crazy or abusive.  Seems like they talked about the teacher the most but maybe I honed in on those conversations the most.  I knew my aunt the teacher would save me if she knew.

My maternal Grandmother lived exactly 100 miles door to door from us.  I was allowed to visit her in the summer and on some weekends.  Mom would put me on the Greyhound Bus and Grandma would meet me on the other end.  I was almost seven when Mom's dad died.  Grandma was very sad and cried all the time.  We were driving to her house one weekend and I was told not to mention Grandpa.  Well, I did and Grandma cried all the while holding me and twisting my ear.  It hurt like heck and I never mentioned Grandpa again.