The Narrative Continues

I am in the process of doing my own laundry. Yay, me!! One load in the washer and two more on the floor of my bedroom. I have seriously neglected my own personal requirements.

There's another load of laundry in the trunk of my car from the Clothes Closet. Really nasty, dirty stuff. I left the stuff in the box it came in and I might even wear gloves to go through it. Yep, it's that bad. I was tempted to just toss it all in the trash, but I thought better of it. It's that "good steward" in me.

On another subject, a thick legal sized envelope arrived in the mail last Saturday. It was a lovingly handwritten chronicle of my past from my father's only living sibling, with photos and copies of other typed letters from distant family members. Not my past specifically, but that of my fraternal PATERNAL grandmother and great-grandparents. The information I've been seeking for the last three or four years.

My aunt's letter is very warm and personal. It describes in detail my grandmother's family history, with many anecdotes about her sister and brother, an aunt and uncle I didn't even know I had. My aunt describes her own childhood during the great depression, including the three years during high school when she lived with her grandmother and grandfather in North Dakota and, after high school graduation, working her way through college. She didn't hold back expressing feelings about my dad and, in particular, my mom. When you're almost 90 years old, you don't have any reason to hold back.

When I finish with my late mother-in-laws cookbook, I think I might just sit down and write my family saga. It won't be in the realm of Tolstoy, Melville or Steinbeck, but there are enough characters in our family to make it somewhat interesting.