When Charm is Not Enough

I honestly don't know when my grandfather's charm became lackluster for my grandmother. For my mother, I think it began when she told her father she was marrying my father, and he gave her $20.00 and suggested she buy sheets with it. Please bear in mind, my mother, the younger of her siblings had managed to care for the family (my grandmother HAD to work for the phone company), for probably twelve years. In that time, her daddy had acquired another daughter (in Nashville) and had joined the Merchant Marines, leaving my grandmother and the children in desperation, while he blithely headed off for San Francisco.

Early on in my life, I was taught that my grandfather was not the best of guys. Still, he gave me my first beer at almost just over a year old and enjoyed the show when my mother returned to find me holding the cat by its tail, giggling, under the dining room table. To this day, I can remember how angry my mother was.

Frankly, Peeps was NOT to be trusted.

My grandmother was induced to remarry him at the urging of my Aunt Doris and Uncle Buddy. These were the older siblings who put Humpty Dumpty together again... My mother and Uncle Bobby were NOT pleased. (Think they did not want to move to Miami, and besides, they, along with my grandmother, had gotten their lives together again.)

For the life of me, I can't imagine what really made my grandmother try again. He was simply NOT salvageable. But, he was charming, funny, evil. They were married three times and divorced twice. To each other.

You know, when I think about it, perpetrator of the multiple marriages; his damaged children were. I think, based on my experience, every child must want the puzzle of a broken family fixed. To have the pieces match, to fit the broken pieces back together at last. To have one cohesive picture.

Ironically, that can never be.

Right now, I'm looking for a missing aunt. For all I know, Peeps, gave her away when my grandmother was sleeping. I really wouldn't put it past him.

My dad found her birth certificate, Cora May French, b. 5/13/1927 in Chicago to our grandparents, Elizabeth Louise Campbell and Winford Clifford French, in Cook Co.

Dear Aunt Cora May,
I want to find you for NO OTHER REASON than to tell you, you have family that exists and loves you, today! You were named for my grandfather's sister. We want nothing from you, just to know your life has been filled with love.
Labels: Cora May French 5/13/1927