Last day of February 2013, my birthday month. A lot of birthdays have come and gone since that first one. February has a bad reputation for weather, but it was a fairly good day weatherwise. Also a good birthday, otherwise. Barbara came down for a couple of days. We went out to lunch and to the casino. Made playing money, but no good vouchers to turn in. Still came home with money left over. They are so heavily into the penny machines, you can hardly find anything else, and I intensely dislike the penny machines. I don’t think they are fun.
Carolyn’s good wishes came from afar and Jan was having foot surgery, so Russ was on standby, but I I talked to him on the phone. I had a lot better day than she did, plus the recovery time is not great from most of the people I’ve talked to that have had foot surgery.
They tell me the weather was, and had been bitterly cold, the day I was born. My Grandma Bowen had died on February 13th and on the 15th, she was being buried in Adams Cemetery a few miles outside St. James. Dad and Grandpa Bowen had left that morning with the rest of the St Francois County family for the funeral and got back late that evening. Mother , expecting the birth of a baby soon did not go. In those days with Model T and Model A Fords, plus gravel roads the approximately 65 miles or so was a long and tiring trip, in addition to the loss of wife and mother,. I’m not sure those old cars had heaters yet.
When Dad and Grandpa got home, I was already there, born about 5:00pm. Mother was very displeased that Dad was away when I arrived, and I don’t think she ever forgave him for that; or me either, for that matterm on my choice of timing on entering the world. From what memories I have of him, I think Grandpa was glad I had arrived that day, and this new baby was a good distraction for him in his grief at losing Grandma. He became my special friend.
As of this birthday, I’ve lived through 60 years of marriage, had four children, losing the first one at the age of two months, but still got to raise three great kids. I have 10 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren, and in a few months will have been a widow for ten years. Not one of those things we get to choose. We just do the best we can, one day at a time. Life is sometimes annoying and frustrating, but rarely humdrum. At this point, my vision problem is my greatest health concern.
