Adventure 449: The Story of George, 26

February 16, 2018

No direct evidence of real time for George this morning. We're not going over to Harvard Park until it's time for Tai Chi. However, we've received no call this morning, so it's safe to assume that he got up and going, and he might have taken his pills. We'll find out when we get there. Really, this is just our little test to see just how independent he is at this point. Right now, we're encouraged that he's progressing every day.

I mentioned yesterday that one of the great absences in my life was any real connection with my cousins on Dad's side. Now that I've thought about it, It may not have made any difference even if George and Chris had stayed together. There doesn't seem to be much connection between George and his siblings. I can't remember any times that George and his brothers and sister just got together. There were two huge family reunions, but no one came together on any regular basis. Maybe it's because life took each of them on separate journeys. Aunt Betty, who was a nurse like her mother, raised four kids, cared for her husband as he died of cancer, and remarried late in life. She and hers lived mostly in Libby, Montana. Bob, a high school shop teacher and ultra-successful baseball coach raised four kids with his wife Phyllis. He had three different teaching jobs, but most of  Bob's career occurred in the Dalles, OR. Richard, a mid management type for "Ma Bell half raised two boys with his wife, Vivian. I say half because Richard was killed in a car accident returning to his home in Las Vegas after the first big Williams' family reunion in Spirit Lake, Idaho. The year was 1972, which made Richard somewhere around forty years old at the time. George and Chris split  for the last time when I was nine or ten. I know George considered himself a failure as a family man. It bothers him to this day. Roger and his first wife raised nine kids in Nampa, Idaho. Roger, a lawyer,spent much of his professional life as both a district and federal judge. He's been married three time, having divorced his first wife, having lost a second wife to cancer. He now lives in Arkansas with his third. Jim, another high ranking management type for the phone company and his wife Bertha raised two children. They spent most of their lives in Bellevue, WA. The rest they spent near Goldbar, WA. So, it seems to me that lives, families, and careers kept the Williams clan separated. I hadn't really thought about it until now. It's made me realize that even had I had a stable family life, it wouldn't have increased my chances to know my Williams side cousins. So it goes.

My great grand parents bought this clock out of the Montgomery Ward catalog in 1907 for $5.00. It lived on my grandmother's mantle for many years. My grandmother willed it to me. The good news is that she gave it to me before she died, which meant I didn't have to negotiate for it. It is a very dear heirloom. 

 It runs on spring tension.

 Originally, one wind would last seven days.

 These days, I have to wind it every five days.

 It keeps very accurate time.

The gold leaf is real gold. Whoo Hoo!