Nan's Alphabet

 Nan was always quick on her feet when she had to learn new things. The more children she raised the quicker she had to adapt to their quirks and behaviors. Some of the boys would tease the girls to tears but never took accountability for it. If Nan asked,"Did you kick your sister?" There was silence. They would rather take the punishment than give up their secrets or motives. On many occasions serious offenses were committed by family like her favorite daughter was arrested of doing. Once Nan took a carton of Marlboro and a six pack of panties to federal prison. There is not a book published that prepares a mother to see her daughter in prison for attempted murder. She drove as far as the guards would permit her, she waited in the freezing rain for the shuttle bus to the prison gates. The guards took her bags, took off her coat, patted her down and let her go inside. Nan looked around at the gray walls and all of the other guests of the prison that day. She was embarrassed, ...

 In 1956 Nan's husband took a job with a international crane company. They wanted him to begin to computerize the heavy equipment to do more work with less stress on the operator of the equipment. This was the beginning of the computer age and he was the man for the job. Nan packed up her children (at the time 7) and moved 42 miles away from her mother, father, brother, sisters and friends. I probably did not mention she was pregnant again. In those days 42 miles was like a 100 miles today. If you move the children to go to  see Nana and PopPop (her parents) you had to pack playpens, strollers, clothes and diapers. All diapers at this time were cloth. I do not believe we had a diaper service to pick up the dirty ones and drop off the clean ones.  We moved next to a house that had a chicken coop in the back yard. There were about 2 dozen chickens and they sold the eggs and the baby chicks. They were an older couple and there was a fence between our yards. In order for us n...

 In 1920 Nan's father (Joe) started betting on the Kentucky Derby. He made it a family tradition by putting all of the names of his children, his cousins and his wife's cousins. It was a simple bet that you pay the winner 10 cents. It was a fun way to gather everyone around the dining room table and put up 10 cents. The next day the Philadelphia paper would have the winner of the Kentucky Derby. It was exciting to see who would win all of the dimes. Because there were 20 horses the winner would go away with $2.00. That was a lot of money in 1920. It was equivalent of about $100 today. Last year 2020, was the first time in 157 years of the Kentucky Derby race that the horses did not win. They tried to change the date to October 2020 but the COVID pandemic would not have the race run in public. The horses ran but people could not attend the race in person. Every year the morning of the race Nan would start making finger foods for the people coming over to watch the race. A favori...

 I know you have heard this story a hundred times but my brother, sister and myself walked to school 1 1/2 miles each way. Nan had three children under 5 at home and no car. All three of us went to Catholic elementary school. This was in the northeastern United States. It was cold in the winter. How long does it take a 8 year old to walk 1 1/2 miles? We never cared because along the way other kids would join us and we would carry on the entire way. Throwing snowballs, running along train tracks when the bars were coming down with the lights flashing we always had fun. Running is not a problem when you are 9,8,7 years old respectively.  My brother did not want to walk with his sisters so he would always be blocks ahead. If we were catching up he would just pick up the pace. We never carried umbrellas, but Nan would make us wear goulashes so we would not get our only pair of school shoes wet. We had a rain coat, Barbie lunch pail, my brother had Hop-Along-Cassidy lunch pail, and...

 A few weeks toward the middle of November I received a call from Nan. She told me to stop whatever I was doing and get down to Louisiana. If Nan asked me to jump off a bridge I would have said "How High". It was 2009, I was working for an airline so I was fortunate enough to have free flights anywhere in the United States. After a few minutes on the phone Nan said, 'Your sister is sick, you need to get down there and help her daughter she is about to deliver her 4th child. No big deal, you might say. She was nine months pregnant, her husband serving in Afghanistan on his tour of duty. The children were 6 a boy, 4 a girl and 2 a girl.  My job was to get the house ready for the new baby due within days, get the family to the airport, so she could be with her mother before the baby was born. There were 40 close relatives who were standing by to give assistance once she landed in the Eastern state. That sounds simple. When I arrived on base my niece was happy to see me. The ...

 There was a dilemma in Nan's house. Her third son had just graduated from high school but did not fit in to the profile of boys his age. It was 1971, he was openly gay, we will call him Mr. B.. He did not have a job, with the public scenario not accepting the gay lifestyle in our small town. Nan was single and could not afford to keep an 18 year old boy in clothes, food and other expenses. So Nan decided to send him far away to his oldest sister. She welcomed him with open arms to Hawaii, where she and her husband were deployed in the military. She assisted in him getting a job in a mail room with a large insurance company. Mr. B was outgoing, handsome, funny, flamboyant and eager to meet other men and women he could relate to with his new freedom. There was a large segment of the island society that exploited their gender preferences. It did not take long for him to move out of his sister's place finding roommates in the center of the city. Mr. B and his sister would meet up ...

 In 1969 we were living in Washington D.C. on the Maryland side. If you don't know what I mean there are two states balancing on Washington D.C. Maryland and across the river Virginia. Some people say that the Virginia side is the best side and where the wealthy live I disagree. Nan decided to come down for a visit to see the museums, throwing in a few historic sites. We did the White House because our cousin was stationed there as a marine guard. We did a few of the Smithsonian Institution museums because you can not see them all in two days. We were going to visit Mt. Vernon on her last day and there was the announcement that was the day they were going to have the funeral of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. We were already on Pennsylvania Avenue and I heard it on the radio. They probably had been announcing it for day but I never watched television. I went to work, I worked overtime, I came home and went to bed 6 days a week. My husbands job was across from American University an...