Mothers Dad

I make a lot of typos. The one I just made in the title is maybe a Freudian typo. I meant to write Mothers Day, but Mothers Dad may be a little more appropriate as I just got off the phone with my mom after a very long conversation about her dad. I appropriately learned a bunch about my grandmother Grace by way of asking my mom about her dad on Mothers Day. 

Turns out Grace Penrose was really smart. My mom said her dad was really sweet, shy and loving, but Mother was really smart. During the war Grace worked at the National Institute of Health (NIH). She had two years at North Western (where she met William) and earned her teachers degree and had become a teacher, but when the war broke out they needed her at NIH. As my head is spinning with the toppeling of another long held assumption now about my grandmother she says, "My parents met in Chicago as my dad was finishing his first year at North Western, but his dad died so he couldn't afford to go to any longer. His dad had a stroke. Died at 59."

I choked up. Literally. Lump in throat, tears, breathing gasps like when I try to hide I'm crying durning a movie. My wife lying next to me could tell I was crying, but was able to hide it from my mom on the other end of the phone. She was on a roll and I didn't want to interrupt her chain of thought. Suzy would ask me about it later and I explained I thought they were poor and could only afford one year of school. Having your dad die while you're a freshman in college is a completely different thing. I was emotionally rocked by the idea that my great grandfather died from a stroke while my grandfather was just starting to take off and I knew nothing about them. 

Turns out the job he had to take because of this tragedy is the reason for his considerable successs in life. Fate is so insane. Because of this job he earns a law degree and because of this job he and his young wife move to Washington DC and have a baby who in the end seems to have an uncanny ability to cope and love on through the many tragedies life seems to be able to dish out. So I pulled myself back together emotionally and am able to pick up the story again somewhere around my dad being the captain of the S. S. Penrose. See my dad actually didn't like to drive the boat. He like to just sit on the back deck and drink and smoke and socialize and was just thrilled that Jeff could just make it all happen. Including the big trip when he moved the boat from D.C. up to Connecticut. He basically just gave the keys to that boat to your father.

OK. Wow. Where was I? Oh yah, Mothers Day. My mom is a really great mom. And my sister was a really great mother too. Here's a picture of my dad with both of them on a very special day.

The day Carol graduated from Hood College with a degree in interior design. They a two very smart, very beautiful women and my dad appears to be glowing inbetween them. He was one lucky guy. As am I!

Happy Mothers Day 2017!