All of my biological grandparents have passed away. That happens when your mother is 37 years-old at the time she gives birth to you. My maternal grandfather lived the longest. He was born in Hoboken in 1902 and I think he died in 1999, but maybe it was 2000. His wife (my grandmother) died in 1975, when I just six years old. I vaguely remember driving out to Michigan for her funeral. He remarried a woman who also lost her spouse that year, and she became my new grandmother. We invented a name for her. She became ‘Grandmary.’ For the last thirty-five years Grandmary has never failed to mail me a check for my birthday, and I got very close to her when I went to college in Kalamazoo. My grandfather was old and ailing by then, and it was nice to have someone in the family nearby.
Grandmary was born on August 25th, 1910. Many of her friends and members of our family will be visiting with her on this August 25th to celebrate her 100th birthday. Unfortunately, I can’t be there that week, so I am going now. Tomorrow I will get in a rented minivan and make the trek out to K’Zoo to have a little early celebration. I am also going to visit with one of my college roommates (you may know him as Wolverine Writer) up in Grand Rapids. And then we will wind our way back home. I’ll be on the road most of the time between tomorrow morning and next Friday night, so blogging from me will be extremely light.
Steven is returning from his own vacation tomorrow, so you’ll probably see some posts from him. Man Eegee and Terrance DC can hopefully put up some threads from time to time. But if you don’t hear too much from me over the next week, now you know why.
One topic for discussion. I once went to the Constitution Center in Philadelphia will Grandmary. It was great to go with someone who was born when William Taft was president and who lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, and l’affaire Lewinsky. I asked her who she thought the best president had been during her lifetime. Her answer surprised the hell out of me. She said Eisenhower. The answer doesn’t surprise me so much anymore. I’d still pick FDR, but the competition for second place isn’t too strong. Ike is right in the mix.
