Adventure 453: The Story of George, 30

February 21, 2018

Real time this morning found George as bubbly as a city park fountain. He was effusive in his response to Joel, asking him questions about this muscle and that ache. He rated his improvement at twenty percent better. He took last night's pills, this morning's pills, and yesterday, he went on the field trip to the Buck Knife plant in Post Falls with seventeen others from Harvard Park. Last night we played Bingo. It's good that he's doing well. We'll take it as long as we can get it.

I've come to realize in recent posts that this story of George is becoming more the story of Tim with a little salting of George thrown in. I'll explore that part of the story later, but first, there is the story of George Sr. and Rosa. Both of my grand parents were born to immigrant parents. Their six children were born in the pre-dawn of WWII. Even with America's attempt at neutrality, this must have made for an anxious time. Yet grandpa and grandma raised six fine children, all of whom became good citizens, and most of whom lived lives as professionals. It's interesting that their middle child, George Jr., was the only one of their children who did not aspire nor acquire an adult life as a professional. Even then life was all about choices. But the important part is that when George's early adult life fell apart, his mother and father stuck with him in the form of emotional, financial, and practical support. It may be common place nowadays, but I doubt that many adult children lived at home in the fifties. This says more about my grandmother than anyone else. She stood firmly behind all of her children, but clearly she had a special place in her heart for George. That idea of enduring heart, that idea of unconditional love, that idea of everlasting hope defines my grandmother. She was and remains the ever fragrant bloom of love in the Williams' family. And remember, even though George Sr. came from a time of stoicism, he too, fell under the spell of my grandmother's love. The rest of us are better because of their example.

 George learned how to love from his mother. Here, Vina, his current love, knits away.

 Bingo!

To this day, the work ethic taught to George by his mother still dominates. He makes his bed every day just as he was taught, and he's always the first and last to help make things work. Here, he, Vina, and Jangle clean up after Bingo. The twenty others merely melted into the night.

 We Williams' come from a strong gene pool. We all take after George Sr.

 George Sr. and Rosa, strong and vital in their early retirement years. This is where the love started.

Interestingly enough, George stayed married to Margaret for something past fifty years as did my mother, Chris, to her second husband, Jack. They both learned good lessons from their practice marriage.