I finally called my sister-in-law, Lois. Why I thought it would be an ordeal, I don't know, as she couldn't have been friendlier. I hadn't seen her since Pat's funeral and that was almost five years ago.
She was very excited when I told her about Mike's letter from 1953 and said she'd love to have it. We had a good talk and caught up with each others' lives. She has a son and daughter and two grandchildren, one of whom, Patrick, was born without eyes.
A bit of family lore: Lois had always called Mike "Joe," but his birth family and friends all called him "Mike." My husband, three years older, was called "Pat," although neither brother had been given those names at birth: my husband was christened "Hugh" after a maternal uncle and Mike's given name was "Joseph Gavin." (I believe there was a general by that name who may have been distantly related to my mother-in-law.) When the brothers were babies, some wag joked that they were "Pat and Mike, the two Irishmen" and ever after, even their own parents called them by those names. Weird.
Interestingly--to me, anyway--Pat didn't call those parents "Mom and Dad" or a variation thereof--ever. He referred to his mother, whose name was Jane, as "Big Jen" and his father as "Big John." Only recently did it occur to me that might be significant when it comes to sub-conscious rejection or distancing oneself from people or something.
But hell, all the principals are dead, so what does it matter?
Picked Aline up for lunch at noon, but instead of going to the Old Causeway--I didn't feel like driving to Manahawkin--we went to SeaOaks. Nice lunch, then I took A. back to my house to see the latest pics of the Tokyo Tot, whom she loves.
Rehearsal had been called for last evening, but Mary wrote it was only the song part of it and, as I'm not singing, I decided not to go. Aline still wanted to and asked Tonya to pick her up.
After taking A. home, I spent time preparing for my guests, Betty and the Fitzsimmons girls, who are due in at 12:30 today.
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