THE DUST WILL WAIT

 This morning I was awake early.  Too early.   I walked into the office where I pushed the wake up button on the computer and waited.  Then, when it came to life I clicked on my family tree program.   I pulled up my brother's name and wrote in the date of death as November 25, 2021.   He is gone.   My brother was a warrior through his six plus year fight with terminal cancer.  Stage four when diagnosed.  Given a much shorter life expectancy than he achieved.  There were times when we thought the time was near. Then he would rally and a new chemo treatment would be available to inflate our hopes for a different outcome. In all there were seven different protocols that he engaged.  There were several that reduced the lesions and granted him some near normal activity.  He went on a tour to Ireland early in his treatment plan.  Then to Russia.  Although the later one came with more difficulty.  St...

My brother Mike emailed me this photo last night.  He said this was a goodbye salute that he snapped today in his garage where this old freezer has been chugging away since 1988.  That was the year our mama decided she was tired of bending over and digging through it.  Besides, she no longer needed the capacity and hadn't for several years. Mike and my sister-in-law  spent the next 25 years "digging" through this old freezer.  My sis-in-law was very good at keeping it and the cupboards stocked.  The two of them kept promising each other that "It is going to die soon, so we will just keep it until that day." Twenty-five years may seem like a very long life for a freezer.  It is MUCH older than that. Sears only sold Coldspot through 1976.  I thought that my parent's purchased this freezer in the sixties.  My brother said he put the serial number 'on-line' and it matched a 1953 manufacturing date.   Here is a close up of...

When my mama and her eldest sister passed away in the summer of 1993, there were some boxes of old photos that came into my safekeeping.  Some had belonged to my grandmother Grace.  Others were from her mother, Augusta.  I spent many hours the following year sorting, scanning, and making attempts to identify them. There are yet photos that no one knows or recognizes and I have them filed under the category "Unknown."      This particular photograph has been the object of much conjecture and curiosity - especially when my brother Mike and I have discussed our genealogy interests.   Mike recently had the opportunity to read the journal written by the grandson of my great Aunt Hattie, my grandmother Grace's older half sister. Hattie was born in 1869 and married Herbert, a photographer, in 1887.  We knew that one of the reasons we inherited many interesting pictures was because of Herbert's livelihood.   Hattie's grandson Newton wa...

My brother Mike is a physical therapist. An excellent physical therapist. His job requires traveling to rehabilitation centers and to people’s homes to treat patients. He can see to do his work without glasses. However, the monstrous amount of paperwork that any medical care involves calls for those reading glasses. Just like me, and his wife Tami, the eyewear Queen, he bought “Dime Store Glasses.” One day he purchased a pair that was not only perfect for reading the fine print, but also fit his head and flattered his face. They came with a price tag about four times higher than the previous ones, but still not as expensive as prescription glasses. He was extremely happy with this discovery and kept them with him at all times. Unfortunately, one evening he arrived home to the realization that his favorite eyewear had not arrived home with him. In his mind, he retraced his route, going over his hourly activity in an attempt to pinpoint the last memory of havi...