Monday, April 27, 2020

Routine And The Renz'es

Sunday routine: coffee, breakfast, Newsweek crossword. (I was annoyed with it this time, as many clues were pretty obscure.)
Left for Wal-Mart at 10:00 and it was enjoyable walking in the mild weather. Stopped first at another market for rice cakes and other items. I like Wal-Mart's facial scrub, so I bought three, but I'm looking for R-12 or D-9 or whatever it is. My sliding screen door is hard to open and I think this will make it slide more easily. However, I couldn't fine it at Wal-Mart. Hopped a bus home, and immediately put in a load of wash. I washed two of my three jackets and was pleased at how nicely they came out.
I called my niece, Joan, in Manhattan, to thank her for sending me this picture:
This is my cousin, Jimmy Renz, one of my Aunt Mary's four sons. On the back is written "Jimmy Renz (boy scouts collect aluminum for defense), 6338 Sherman St., Phila. Pa. Aug, 1941".
Jimmy was named James for my father, who was killed in an accident in 1950. About six years later, Jimmy was also killed in an accident.  Years later, the ten-year-old son of Jimmy's brother, Tom, was killed in an accident. His name: James. I'm not superstitious, but those are sad coincidences.
Joan had come across the picture in some of her mother's, my sister, Gene's, things. We had a good talk, but of course, there are complications and nuances, as they are in any big family. 
The only surviving member of Aunt Mary's family is Jimmy's sister--the only girl--Mary, who is a Sister of Notre Dame. I decided she should have the picture and I found her via the Internet. I was surprised to see she had celebrated her seventieth anniversary as a sister in 2018, a noted in the commemorative program:
Well, the damn scanner wouldn't work, for some reason, so I just took a picture of it. I got the phone number, too, and will call Mary today. I haven't seen her for--oh, probably fifty years--but so what? We're still blood.
After lunch, I prepared to walk to the Smart 'N' Final shopping center, as there's an Ace Hardware there. As I was locking the door, Suzanne came back from her walk and we sat and chatted for a time. So enjoyable just to sit and talk to somebody in person! I then went to Ace, got the WD-4  stuff, then a few things at Smart 'N' Final. 





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