May 24, 1941, I had no plans for this evening. Was taking a bath when Ed came up. He asked me to go to a show. We went to Hartford and saw Count Bernie Vici and his show and a picture “Redhead.” We stopped for ice cream and Ed brought me out a box full…
Tag: loss
Before the News Breaks: Part I
While Babu is in Chicopee wrestling with loss, Jake is in Alabama having no idea that he, too, has lost a friend. The letters Babu gets from him are a jarring juxtaposition to what she is facing at home. Was it a welcome distraction? May 21, 1941, Jakey wrote me another letter today and he…
In Honor and Memory of Stretch Part II
May 19, 1941, Even though I realized Stretch was dangerously ill, I didn’t think of him leaving us. He died this afternoon. Zosh and I stayed with Nat all evening trying to console her. She is being brave. I haven’t got much use for the army since this happened. They can’t be getting the right…
In Honor and Memory of “Stretch” Part I
Unfortunately, this was the start of the end. I am simply to sad to create suspense or to worry about spoilers. May 11, 1941, Nat was angry because Stretch didn’t come home. However, he’s sick in the hospital and can’t help that. Ed K. came up and gave me a driving lesson and we picked…
April A-Z: Divvying and Dreaming
This past March was tense and difficult. The 11th was Babu’s birthday but instead of her, we had a job. Adam’s uncle, Tony, came from Tennessee and helped to start the process of doling out things that were hers and now theirs. You can imagine how that can go. At some point one night during…
Together
It has been a little over two months since Babu passed. It’s been hard, living here with all of her things, but not her. Husband and I have been finding moments of joy and some of bittersweetness. Her birthday is quickly rushing toward me. It is next month. It will be a really hard time…
Babu: 1918-2018
It is with an extremely heavy heart that I post this update. In fact, I’ve been avoiding it for two and a half weeks. We have lost Babu. She was a hundred and a half and she went peacefully and quickly. It’s been a hard holiday and long December. I’m in the process of healing…
Throw Back Thursday: Cartography
I thought about the poem featured in this post the other day. I thought about it the last time I shared passages with her. I thought about how, even when she struggled to remember people she used to be very close with, all she could remember was where they lived. That, and that they were…
Searching for Stanley: Part Two
A cemetery can haunt you. I visited two days ago and I cannot get that place out of my mind. I’m processing…well, the meaning of life and death, I guess. I certainly want to do more research and go back and spend some more time. As I alluded to in yesterday’s post, Stanley was not…
Searching for Stanley: Part One
Yesterday I went to the cemetery. As I told you in yesterday’s post, The Rescued Photo did some research on a kid who died when Babu and he were in high school based on a post I wrote from her diary. Some of the information she gave me was that Stanley was buried in St….
All The Best Intentions…
For the last two days I have been working on a post that seems too big for one post and too big for only two or three days worth of processing and reflecting. It is about, well, mostly about, or maybe only a little bit about, “Jakey.” I have been processing something about “Jakey”…
Leave Out All The Rest
Once I finally lowered the phone and muted the screen’s glow in the covers, after ceasing my scrolls trough “the feed,” once I was done refreshing my inbox, coloring in hearts on other people’s pictures, once I thought maybe now I can sleep, I began to hear it. It sounded like music was playing, On…
transcribingmemory 