EXAMPLE TWO: written October 11, 2006 (the anniversary of dad's death)
This photo says something about Grandpa and where he came from. You probably think that he came from 26 Shattuck St. And you would be right because he lived there from 1962 to 2003 and he wouldn’t budge from that address, even though he spent many a sleepless night worrying about a leaky roof, a barn that was condemned by the city of Worcester, or a broken down furnace. I want to share why he felt that way. There were two big reasons. The first was that he wanted to leave something for his children, which he did. And the second, unspoken reason was that even after 20, 30 or even forty years he was still sick of being moved around.
Grandpa was the oldest of twelve and his family moved a lot. As the oldest, he remembered almost every tenement except the first one, which was on a hill in Cherry Valley across from Duffy’s Discount. The family’s first move was to 176 James St in Auburn. Then it was on to 115 Lamartine St., 52 Canterbury St, 22 ½ Hacker St.(where they lived for the 1930 Census), Morse Ct, 18 Lunelle St, 58 Ellsworth St, (where baby number 12 was born), and 1 Brown Ct. Grandpa’s parents also moved several times after he was married. One example is 11 Goddard St (which is still standing). We think this list is complete (although not necessarily in order) thanks to Auntie Sue who has patiently been cataloguing addresses with Aunt Lill, Auntie Barbara and old Worcester telephone directories.
Every now and then Aunt Sue takes a walk “down the other end,” as Grandpa would say. Her mission is to find all of these places. Yesterday I was lucky enough to join her on the hunt. It was our way of celebrating the anniversary of his death on Oct 12, 2003. We walked all around a section of Worcester that is called “the Island” because it was literally an island in the middle of the Blackstone Canal, many years before Grandpa was even born. We wanted to see what it was like to walk to Larmartine St. School from any one of these addresses. That school was the one constant anchor in the lives of the Fenner children. It was also where they got dental care and met up with their best friends like Grandpa’s friend Jakie, who became a cab driver.
Most of the time, all Susan finds is an empty lot, like the Ash Street address that has been made into a parking lot for huge trucks, for the Table Top Pie factory next door. We found out that 58 Elsworth St is gone and so is 1 Brown Ct. Someone really did "pave paradise and put up a parking lot!" But that day it didn't matter. We could almost hear Grandpa whistling on his way home after a date with Grandma. Just walking around his old neighborhood made us feel like we were home too. These streets are part of who Grandpa was and where we all came from.
Love, Mom
EXAMPLE THREE: My Perfect Day, written Apr 2010
What comes to mind is Christmas 2009. It was the first time in four years that all of our children and grandchildren were together. We build a snowman, ate the traditional fondue, had a baby Jesus parade, and just enjoyed each other's company (all 12 of us). I roamed around all day taking pictures and movies of everybody. We also had lots of three generation game playing, like 'Pen the Pig' and races with Matchbox cars. It was nothing short of miraculous that some came despite their feelings about a recent divorce, difficult finances, and very demanding work schedules. I must have thanked each one for coming at least a bazillion times. I am posting a photo of the whole bunch here and on my facebook page, if anyone wants to take a peak at what God can do with one rag-tag family.
