When my parents so rudely abandoned me to move to Idaho, they left us many gifts. One was a big box of old documents to shred for them, since they didn't have the time. I worked overtime this weekend finally getting around to doing just that and I had both shredders going. My mom holds on to everything! There were old credit cards they never activated, old bank accounts long ago closed, and copies of things from 1995 that really..why?? As I moved swiftly through my shredding craze, I came upon a brittle old legal document that was stuck between folders. I opened it up carefully and I was like "WHAT??!!" For a moment I was Fred Sanford from Sanford and Son with my hand on my chest, thinking "This is it Elizabeth, this is the big one!". It was dated 1945 and it was a divorce decree for my Texas grandparents. The same two grandparents who are now buried right next to each other because that is what you do with old married couples, right?
All this time, they weren't even married!! You better believe I picked up that phone and called my mom to ask her about it. She fessed up and said she was only 5 when they got divorced and they never bothered to get remarried, so they decided to live together. How progressive for 1945! When I was just 16 years old, my grandmother advised me to live with a man before I married him because according to my grandmother "the way a man brushes his teeth could drive you over the edge, mija". Maybe my grandfathers brushing habits were the reason for the divorce, I don't know. No wonder she gave me that advice, she was doing it herself.
Oh, the scandal. I always thought my grandmother was a very independent woman and now I know where she got it from. I obviously didn't shred that divorce decree and am sending it to my mom along with a note asking if there are any more family secrets she is keeping from me. I am going to visit my grandparents grave this weekend with a whole new perspective on them both, they were way ahead of their time.
Lastly, a moment of silence for Little Gay R's relationship. It went belly up this weekend and though he can't see it yet, he will be just fine. He has a lot of friends to support him and we've all been there, haven't we? The sucky period where it feels like you will never be happy again and you second guess every move and conversation. You wallow in sad love songs and oh, the tears that could fill an ocean. He just needs to get past this bad part and he will be much happier. Easier said than done.
K
1 comment:
Tell Little "R", better now than ten years down the road.
Wow, what a surprise for you.
Almost twenty years ago (just after my dad passed) I was sitting around with mother and she was of course talking bad about people...as always.
She was talking about one of her Uncles (a millionaire) and how awful he was for wasting money by living in a nursing home..so much less for them to inherit etc...he had been responsible for her grandfathers suicide.....WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?.......
Oh she says, you know that.
Uh NO, I think I would definitely remember that information.
Sooooo, What else do I know that I have never ever heard.
I know the feeling.
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