My brother-in-law would probably be embarrassed if he knew I
sold a 1929 letter on e-Bay addressed to his dad. A few
years ago I had already given him a whole notebook of family papers from that
time frame, including many letters from debt collectors. Together they documented the hardships of the Crash in a very human
way that you don’t get out of history books. I urged him to donate the notebook to the museum but I’m not sure if he did and I don’t want to
know if he destroyed it. He saw it as a family shame but I knew the county’s
local history department welcomes and archives information on the beginning and ending of
a local businesses. However, it wasn’t my place to donate a part of his family’s history. The letter missed getting into the notebook by an accident (?) of filing. I discovered
the error when I was photographing colorful letterheads to list it on e-Bay when I
noticed the person one letter was addressed to. (Yes, people
collect antique letterheads. They only go for $5 to $15 but that’s better
than throwing out something that is almost a 100 years old.) The letter writer, a gas station owner, filled the entire page with single spaced typing and his desperation was clear. My
husband’s father owed $18.00 for gasoline sold to the bus line.
The station owner ended by saying he had a family to feed, too, and “if you could
just send a few dollars a week it will keep you out of collection.”
Changing gears: One of the Christmas parties/luncheons I
went to was sponsored by the senior hall. As I sat there, it struck me funny
that it was a fashion show of Christmas sweaters past and present---250 of them
and I didn’t see any duplicates! I was wearing one I bought at least ten years
ago. The senior luncheons always have the same agenda: Music follows a lunch that
is served by high school students who get credit for community service for
doing it. And after we finish eating the
kids who serve us line up to tell us something about themselves.
One student said she will go into political science and law with an eye
towards being a politician. In all the years of hearing kids at monthly lunches
talking about their goals I’ve never heard a single one say he/she wanted to be a politician
and I made the mistake of saying that to my table mates. Everyone agreed but
then one lady started in on how sick she was of all the hearings and
investigations of the president. “What are they supposed to be doing that they
aren’t doing while they’re wasting time and our tax dollars?” I couldn’t let
that go so in what I hoped was a non-combatant voice I said, “In all
fairness, there are 435 people in the House and only 15 House members are
on the Intelligence Committee and 22 on Judiciary Committee that have been conducted the hearings. Committee work is part
of their jobs.” The same lady replied back about how she had relatives who sit
in front of the TV every day watching the news and “it’s disgusting,” I couldn’t tell if it was her relatives or the news that she labeled 'disgusting'
but it didn’t matter. We were at a party so I zipped up my lips and we all went
back to watching a large choir get set up to sing Christmas music.
The next party I went to was at the Continuum Care Campus where
I plan to move. It was a combination Christmas and ground breaking party. Finally!
Ground breaking was supposed to be in “late fall” and technically the first day
of winter isn’t until December 21th but when I think fall, I don’t think of
snow being on the ground. Even the mayor was there to welcome us. Ya, he's happy to add a 35 million dollar campus to their tax base. The press release called it "West Michigan’s first senior living community---blah, blah, blah---meant to cater to older adults in search of active, independent living, with an impressive assortment of modern-day amenities." Cool! We toasted with champagne, swapped downsizing stories
and ate a wonderful lunch. In the spring when the CCC expects to have the outside construction completed
they’ll have walk through tours with an engineer and we’ll get to pick out our finishes and ask specific questions about our units. Hopefully that's enough to keep me pumped up this winter. I need my trips out there to remind me of why I'm selling off and giving away my life. ©
