Part 4 Aunt Dot

Beautiful Aunt Dot was quickly married Mr.Tall, Dark and Handsome. The years rolled by with a very good lifestyle but had no children.. As a little girl, I visited often and was pampered being there. About ten years after they were married, they built a large cabin on the Tennessee River where fun meant great meals, boating and skiing the summers away. The cabin was large with capacity to slept sixteen. We enjoy a large screened in porch with a sweeping view of the river. Many card game were played right there.

Summers in the south are memorable as heat and humidity interlace in a soft blanket which welcomes the evenings. I remember Aunt Dot making a grand breakfast every morning of eggs, sausage, biscuits and tomatoes. Uncle Handsome loved Aunt Dot and called her "Babydoll."

Nephew Edward was about 3 years younger than me and the only child of Uncle Handsomea' brother. They were always were at the River Cabin with us. I was somewhere between playmate and babysitter for Ed, which was great as he was a spoiled little brat who loved me. Edward actually turn out to be a great little pal and dare-devil skier. We double-skied taunting each other while skimming waters trying to derail the other.

Late one afternoon when the adults were in the cabin, he and I decided to play Tom Sawyer by building a raft of intertubes, ropes and boards from the boathouse. Four intertubes, tied together topped with secure boards and 2 paddles available, we set off rafting down the wide, deep and seemingly lazy river to an island which looked much closer then it actually was. The currents took us easily to our destination as the late afternoon sun became lazy in the sky.

We pulled the raft onto the little island and explored for a little while finding nothing of interest. We noted the sun dropping and now to the task of getting back upstream. The sun quickly was gone and dusk made the river current seem stronger. We worked our way but the going was slow. Seemed darkness came quicker that day and there we were in the middle of a river some five miles wide and only God knew how far we were from our pier. We continued, peddling as fast and hard as we could.

It wasn't long before we could see lights on the river ahead. The lights were searching back and forth. They soon came our way and we could faintly hear our names being called. The rescue was welcomed, however, our rescuers were filled with fear, relief and a proper amount of anger. It wasn't pleasant. Lectures galore followed.

Now a lifetime has passed.
Uncle Handsome died some thirty years ago. Just before he died, he asked me to come to be with her when that time came. I was there.

A few years later, I asked her if she ever thought about Mr. Too Good and why didn't she call him to see how he was. She remembered the love she always had for him, and knew where he was at the time, but never made a call. She, many years later, told me he had died. I didn't ask how she knew, however, he was a well known public figure. I wondered what her life would have been like if.....

Aunt Dot always visited us even when we lived in Brazil. She played Santa one year in Virginia when my children were young, She looked good in the Santa suit...what fun. Many years of memories of her will live forever for all of her niece's and nephews.

Now, we gather, cousins who she has loved and "mothered" over the years to talk about what to do about Aunt Dot. She has let everything go and allowed swindlers drain her money. It is our job to keep her safe. That is what we are doing about Aunt Dot.

Part 3 What to do About Aunt Dot

Looking back to the 1940's and we know it was a most uncertain time. After Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. That very day, our country declared war on Japan and on December 11, that same week, we also declared war on Germany. The entire world changed at that point.

With the Germans trying to overtake Europe and America always on the alert for an invasion on our shores, and then we had Japan on the Pacific desiring to overtake our country from the West. We had blackouts, were all lights in large areas were required to be turned off until danger was over. In schools, the teacher taught us what we could best do to survive bombing should it happen. We practiced quickly getting under our desks, covering our heads with a book and be still. All along our coastline on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific, there were troops stationed to keep watch for planes, ships or submarines approaching our shores. Populated coastlines had frequent "black outs."

Thank God for all the men who fought to keep us safe and brought an end to the horror.

After that week, times became really, really bad; men disappeared from the work forces and women took their places in factories, farms, hospitals, volunteered for the Red Cross, etc and many joined to go to the battle areas to care for the men abroad.

My Aunt Dot took a job at what was called "The Tin Mill." She wore regular clothes to work where she changed into work clothes. All the women wore slacks, work shoes, cotton short sleeve shirts, heavy gloves and their hair tied up in a turban made of a scarfs. This kept their hair from being caught in machinery. At the end of their shifts, she and all the girls went to a local cafe to socialize and have a late supper.

Times were hard. Victory Gardens were in every yard. Any surplus was canned for the winter.
Meat was rationed. We had no ice cream as there was no sugar. of course, no candy. I was blessed by being to young to remember having sugar and exotic fruits. We had dried fruit in the winter and fresh peaches and apples in season.

All tin cans, bits of aluminum and such were collected and taken to the collections bins for the War Effort.

Gas was not available for cars had there been any cars to buy. Older cars ran with a ration of gas for them. All that steel, tin, iron material used to make cars was going into building ships, planes, guns, tanks and whatever the troops needed
It was our job to survive while the world was at war.

If you can imagine a world without televisions, telephones (1 to each community to be shared for emergencies only.)

AH! The Ice Box.
The Ice Box was in our kitchen. Basically it was a zinc lined cabinet that kept the cooled air inside and ice from melting quickly We had The Ice Man make regular rounds to our neighborhood selling ice in chunks of 25, 50 or 100 pounds for which Mother paid.

I loved to see ice being chipped off into large or smaller blocks. The small icepick made a line in the large block of ice and it would simply break apart at that line. Amazing to a little girl. (There wasn't much entertainment for children in those days, therefore anything new was a treat.)

The guy using a large ice tong would placed the ice on the top shelf of our ice box.
Children were not allowed to open the door as the cooled air would escape and melt the ice.

Most everyone had a few chickens for eggs and a chicken here and there for a meal on special occasions. There were cows nearby and we had fresh milk. I don't know how my Mother lived without coffee, but that was not available as well.

The one radio was for the adults to listen to the news after we were put to bed. It was a terrible time to be alive, however, I was so young I didn't remember life being different.

Our neighbor, the lady who had the community telephone received news that her son was killed in what was later called, "The Most Colorful Battle of WW II"...the Battle of Midway. I remember that being a terrible time for all in our community. I noticed his mother didn't go to her mailbox at all anymore. Aunt Dot told me the lady probably didn't go because she could bear the mailbox being empty.

A little girl has such big feelings about things going on around her, but lack of power to control anything. I was told to "be cheerful and feel blessed for what we had , as there were so many children in this world with nothing to eat or a place to sleep." We were taught to pray every night for World Peace. I prayed for a handsome man to come home from the war for Aunt Dot. I also prayed for a dog.

To be cont...

Part 2 ~ What To Do About Aunt Dot

Aunt Dot will be 90 years old in November. She seems to be trying to block out what has happened to her, therefore, she has started just saying "I don't remember" to complicated questions I have to believe she just don't want to deal with it anymore. To some, due to her age, she sounds as if she is losing her short-term memory. I believe she has just had too much on her mind and that mind just needs a rest and I truly feel she will rally. I feel this way, but my brain is questioning that feeling.

I just want my Aunt Dot back as she was. She has always been so independent and strong.

Living alone makes older people vulnerable to con men. They are easy targets for quick money . They are alone, they need so many small things done around the house and yard.

They soon make strangers friends as they are lonely. My Aunt Dot is like thousands of others, they are in need of someone to drive her... to the grocery, the drug store or to the Doctor....
PLUS someone to cut the grass and other odd jobs fir them. Once a friendship is established, they are invited into their homes for visits as they need visitors.

Aunt Dot has been through a year that no older person should have to endure.
Yes, she has been a victim of a scam that has gone on over this past year. The little guy slowly won her trust and soon her money took wings.
--- --- --- ---
I can still see her as she was ~ young and enjoying life. I can still visualize her gentleman friend who drove the shinny black car and wore stylish clothes. It didn't take her long to be head over heels in love as he was so attentive. As it turned out, he also was married. This devastated Aunt Dot.

The war came to an end and immediately she meet a tall, dark and very handsome Texan . He was as she always said, the someone who came back from the war. He had been a Flyer and had flown many missions over Germany. She was taken by him and she made him a quick cure for the failed romance with "Mr Too Good to be true."

Well, Mr. Too Good didn't want to lose her and said he would win his freedom for the wife and marry Aunt Dot...Mr. Too Good apparently was desperate...but his offer came just a little too late.

I remember the last time I saw Mr. Too Good. He came our house late one afternoon to see Dot. I rushed to meet him running about the house to the front stairway. Reaching the stairway I was stopped by the sight before me. My mother was standing tall, looking down at Mr. Too Good. She had stopped him before he had gotten to the top. He moved back and leaned on the concrete ledge and was looking up at my mother. Apparently, neither of them took note of my presence across from him at the bottom of those wide steps. My mother told him Dot was not at home. She, in her most cruel tone, seemed to gloat when she reported Dot had met another. Mr. Too Good, with hat in hand, slumped back bracing himself on the concrete

Children in those days were to be seen and not heard, but on this day, I was not even seen... I stood there being totally ignored as their adult conversation about love and fidelity filled my head with far more than a 5 year old should know about life. I remember holding my breath and wishing she would be nicer. I felt his pain. My mother blistered his ego and maybe broke his heart as well. He stood there ...I can see him now...dressed in the latest 1940's style suit and holding hat in hands. He was explaining to my mother that he loved Dorothy beyond words. Her reply to him showed no sympathy and ask him to leave and never come back or try to see Dorothy. I felt sorry for him, as he looked down at his hat and turned it around in his hands....and after what seemed forever, he whirled around, bounding down the steps to his shinny car. I hated to see him go. I was such a little girl and I felt so sad to see him hurt as I knew Aunt Dot loved him beyond words as well. That was one of the secrets she shared with me. She told me she would always love him. I felt I would never see him again and I didn't.

To be cont...

What To Do About Aunt Dot

The second part of the trip to attend my College Reunion was to see about Aunt Dot.
Aunt Dot is becoming a sad case.
For sure, a fundamental fact of life is that we can never imagine the future.

Aunt Dot lived with us when I was a very little girl. WW ll was raging and seemed as if everything we needed was either limited or unavailable. Housing was unavailable as was cars, sugar, bananas and I can't remember what else. We all were aware of "the War effort." As I said, Aunt Dot lived in our big house on the hill with my family. I was about 5 years old when she moved in.

Aunt Dot was young, blond and very beautiful and single. She was outgoing and fun. I remember these times so well. It was a scary time in the world and what I knew about that War came by overhearing the adults talk among themselves after I was in bed. I had nightmares as I didn't know geography and didn't know where the bombing was happening. Another part was the sadness of the war that I felt through Aunt Dot's friendships.

Now she is 90 years old. I has to be very sad to become alone and have no children. We cousins came together on this trip to decide what to do about Aunt Dot. She is in need of everything to be done for her, yet she sits in her recliner as proud as ever, trying to be in charge of her live as major problems exist..

Today, I see her in the ashes of what she used to be. Age has a way of robbing beauty but now the love we have for her. Aunt Dot was a big influence on my life as she was very outgoing and fun-loving.

I can see her dancing the Charleston and Boogie Woogie in our living room as the Swing Music played. A little girl which was me, dances with her. She was the light of my young life.

I remember that she received letters from one of her boyfriends who was stationed in Germany where the harsh war was underway. Children don't have to be told directly, they pick up what is going on about there. I noticed she didn't rush to meet the postman anymore and she didn't sit at the table writing letters anymore. After a few weeks of being sad, she apparently decided to get on with her life.
Her social life picked up.

She had only those guys who were unfit for duty call on her. Everyone else was drafter and was gone.

She and I would sit in the porch swing where she told me secrets. She told me that the man she would marry would be someone who would come home from the war. (She was right.)

At that point, she only went out with men who took her dancing and bought her dinner. Nothing serious. She was very beautiful and had her pick. She had nice dresses and a fur coat which she bought herself. She soon caught the eye of a very important man who always wore suits with ties, highly polished shoes and drove a bigger car than anyone. He would come for her often and she really fell for him. The problem was that each neighborhood was allowed one phone to share and it wasn't in our house.

The only telephone in the entire neighborhood was at a neighbor's house. The reason the neighbor was selected to have the one phone allowed per neighborhood was that she had a son serving in the Navy and was in the Pacific.
For this reason, Aunt Dot never knew when her beaus would be coming over.

In those days, there were no blow dryers, or curling irons for quick hair fixes and for that matter, no clothes dryers as well. Many times Aunt Dots friends would call on her unexpectedly and have to wait for her to dress. At times she had to run to wash her hair and scurry to the kitchen to hold her head in the oven door to dry it as quickly as possible. Her caller waiting patiently in our living room. There were no TV's so they sat quietly. I would stay with Aunt Dot to see her work magic as when she walked out, she was a beauty queen well worth the wait.

To be cont...

We Are Who We Are Because We Where Where We Were When

Our eventful trip to Texas was completed just a few days before departing for one of the most ________ events of a lifetime. (The perfect word fail me, it was so, so sweet, good, maybe bitter-sweet.)

This was a fabulous GOLDEN REUNION of graduation from The University of Ala Hospital located in Birmingham, Ala.

Little did we suspect that when we packed and moved out of our dorm, most of us would not be together again for 50 years. Our lives lay before us ~ We each went our separate ways and now we came together ~

50 years later

A few chose not to come ~

other beloved classmates had completed their lives.

~Our graduation photo~

How was our 50 year reunion?

Interesting, unbelievable, unrealistic, wonderful, loving, sweet, bitter-sweet, warm, happy, grateful and best of all, totally over the top !!!

Our Sweet Sarah worked many, many hours to find us and to make it totally perfect. SARAH, IT WAS !!!

What a lovely, loving event.

We were thrilled to come together again ~ 50 years later !!!!

Jean, Evelyn, Nola~

Sarah, Kathy, Louise
Betty, Joyce, Jean B.

Hearing every one's story of their 50 years in two minutes was interesting~

I was so proud of everyone. Made me think of the fact

"We are who we are today because we were where we were, when."

Charles, Patsy

Our Class Officers~Our Class Officers left to right June (me), Helen, Pat and Evelyn ~

Three out of the four of us were there~ we lost Pat in 04.

We had only 18 classmates at our fabulous reunion~

Evelyn and Sarah look back on our student uniforms~ all noticed how small the waist was...

Yes, we are proudly a part the University Medical Center Museum.

An photo of class~ maybe our Jr. Class photo?? The class had loss over half of the hopefuls who started with us...had to be our Jr Year.

Me? I am third from right second row.

Photos of our home away from home.

There were no secrets, we shared everything. We remembered all the card playing that seemed like an ongoing event. Some games were left in place while we had class. We had a wonderful, wonderful time with our classmates who were our close friends.

This was our goal ~ to wear the cap with that coveted BLACK BAND

Not only did we make it to that Black Banding Ceremony~ we walked across the stage and got the little rolled up piece of paper that started us in our lives to come.

The way we are now~
Photos doesn't have all who were there~.

In the hotel lobby

June,

Joyce,

Kathy,

Sarah,

standing is Jean R.

At the Brunch at Louise's






And is the lady who brought us together for this event~ Classmate, Sarah. She holds all degrees needed plus a few more to be the VIP she is at the University at this point.
Organized, intelligent, and thoughtful with powerful leadership skills, she found 99% of our graduating class and brought us together with love.

SARAH~
We can't possibly thank her enough.

Together, we watched the setting sun over B'ham. Sort of appropriate for the ending of such a momentous occasion.

















The sun gave us a spectacular show.

I scooted around to the room in The Club, where my wedding reception was held over 43 years ago...they have remodeled and all is now different~ Nothing stays the same...another truism.

Thanks all for a fabulous event in my life, June


Comments~

From Gail~

Good to see you yesterday. I know each of you had fun Friday. I called Kitty when I got home and talked with her for a long time. She was busy remodeling her house and could not come. She said she should have but was tired of the mess in her house since Oct. She kept in touch with Annette and Peggy. We plan to meet some where close to Jacksonville or half way one Sat next month.All of us stay busy with family and close friends it is hard to keep in touch with long ago friends. We should. Make new friends and keep the old. I will call Peggy some time this week. That is why I like email. I like to hear what is going on in their lives. Not to big on forwards unless it is really good. Keep in touch. Send pictures when you can. Gail

From Bobbie:

Hi,
I hate that I missed the reunion. I know that you had a good time.
I think that I am about to old to travel ................I was so tied when we got home that I slept about 2 days.
We are going to Argentina in August.....if my energy level goes up.
Bobbie

BLOGS BELOW~

Check it out~


More to come

More To Love 'bout Texas ~ Day Four, Five and Six

Yes, they have mansions in West Texas

andcows with expressions on their faces...he is thinkin'

"Say whut?"







This one could have been the inspiration behind

"Don't Mess With Texas" ~

Get a load of those Long Horns!


This one is thinkin'...


"Aint no way in hell you're going down this road, cowgirl."





AHHHHHHHH how I love to ride!



Especially in Texas were you can ride all day and never see even a house.

And last but not least...I love the Strong and Good Looking Cowboys~


AHHHHHHH ~ these are a few of my favorite things.


Our friendship with this cowboy, pilot, rancher, Judge has endured 45 years...years ago, he gave up flying to go back to his ranch in west Texas... While we were there, he gave us the grand tour to see that part of the world. Looks to me, he owns a lot of it.

We drove all day taking in some of his 6200 acres... I can't wrap my head about that number, can you?
Lunch time, we stopped at a little grocery store where the lady there had a little business making sandwiches for stragglers like us.
What a neat experience.

We really enjoyed the VERY WIDE and OPEN SPACES~
It was a lovely, lovely time there with Bobby.
We can't wait for Christmas as he will be here with us.
YEAH!!!

AH HA! Secret Shots of Photographer With Camers With Eyes on Texas

Story of Texas will be completed when I am back from Reunion and trip to Florida.

THEN will have yet another story to share. Thanks Travis for catching this girl in action. Texas is a BIG STORY to share.

He even caught me saying "Just one more."

Never have enough photos of a good thing.