out of ashes.....
Mar. 21st, 2006 08:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susandennisI got a note this morning from someone on Mom's list of Not Favorite People. By sheer coincidence I worked with Emily on a newspaper in Aiken, South Carolina in the early 70s. Then some 25 years later, she turns up in Charleston and a member of Mom and Dad's church. Daddy served with her on several church committees and was always at odds with her over something. Then after he died, she landed a spot on the 'help out the elderly' committee and was put in charge of Mom. She always annoyed the heck out of Mom and I think was probably the main reason why Mom kind of just let church go after a few years.
So this morning I got an email from her expressing sympathy with some really oddly chosen words and phrases but whatever. The funny part is that she said that Mom had declined to share my email address with her (go Mom!) but that she had gotten it from their mutual friend, Jann. Jann is someone Mom was terribly fond of. And so was Daddy. They were crazy about her. After Daddy died, Jann got cancer. Mom took her to and from her chemo appointments for a long time. Then, finally, she moved away from Charleston to go live with her sister. She would come back now and again and take Mom out to lunch. And they did keep up with email but somehow the chain got broken.
I think Mom believed that the cancer had finally gotten Jann. My sister asked me the other day if I knew how to get in touch with Jann and I told her I figured she had died. Turns out I was a bit hasty. She has not died. She does know about Mom. According to Emily, she does not have long herself. I asked Emily for Jann's email address. We'll see.
Did I mention how grateful I am to not have to go to Charleston? Whew. It's so much easier by email.
A death can bring out the strange. I think it may be more so in the South but that could just be my own slant on things. I remember that from when Daddy died and we got the visit from the woman we never ever did figure out how or who...
So this morning I got an email from her expressing sympathy with some really oddly chosen words and phrases but whatever. The funny part is that she said that Mom had declined to share my email address with her (go Mom!) but that she had gotten it from their mutual friend, Jann. Jann is someone Mom was terribly fond of. And so was Daddy. They were crazy about her. After Daddy died, Jann got cancer. Mom took her to and from her chemo appointments for a long time. Then, finally, she moved away from Charleston to go live with her sister. She would come back now and again and take Mom out to lunch. And they did keep up with email but somehow the chain got broken.
I think Mom believed that the cancer had finally gotten Jann. My sister asked me the other day if I knew how to get in touch with Jann and I told her I figured she had died. Turns out I was a bit hasty. She has not died. She does know about Mom. According to Emily, she does not have long herself. I asked Emily for Jann's email address. We'll see.
Did I mention how grateful I am to not have to go to Charleston? Whew. It's so much easier by email.
A death can bring out the strange. I think it may be more so in the South but that could just be my own slant on things. I remember that from when Daddy died and we got the visit from the woman we never ever did figure out how or who...
