"Running Commentary"

Going Back In Time

    My mother was born on the 20th day of the 20th year, in the 10th month. She died in the 12th month of the 20th year – four months ago – having lived 100 years, two months, and two days.
    It’s apparent Mother loved even numbers, and she passed that trend on to her youngest son. I was born on the 26th day of the 10th month in the year ’46.
Whole thing’s rather odd, isn’t it?
Imagine living that long – 100 years. It’s hard to wrap your head around it. Think what it was like living in 1920. What a different world. No Internet, no television, no microwave ovens or call phones – all the modern conveniences we take for granted. Imagine a world without Google, Facebook, Instagram and Ebay. No McDonald’s, Dairy Queen or Subway. Yikes!
In 1920, automobiles were a relatively new invention. You could buy a brand new Ford Model T for around $300 – and lots of families couldn’t afford one. Broadcast radio service was in its infancy – the very first radio program aired in 1920, but nobody had any radio receivers to hear it. The only way to get an updated weather forecast was to stick your head out the front door.
Many houses didn’t have telephones, and when you got to a phone you couldn’t call someone directly. When you picked up the handset, an operator would come online and ask, “Number please?”
Interestingly, that operator-based system was still in effect in the early 1950’s in California – I remember giving numbers for an operator to call. Several years later, with advances in technology, we got a phone with rotary dial. Our phone number changed from 1120W to Lenox 3-1186. Such progress!
Until Mother was born in 1920, women were not allowed to vote, an egregious sin of omission corrected by the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Crazy, isn’t it? For the first 150 years of our country, only men could vote. No wonder we were involved in so many wars.
Speaking of oddities, here’s something. During the time that women were not allowed to vote, the White House was commandeered and administered by a woman! It’s true. A historical fact.
While on the campaign trail in October 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious, debilitating stoke that caused partial blindness, paralysis and brain damage. For the remaining one and a half years of Wilson’s term, he was essentially an invalid, incapable of performing the duties of our country’s highest office.
The First Lady, Edith Wilson – Woodrow’s second wife – stepped up and assumed her husband’s role, often making decisions on behalf of the president. She even restricted access to him. Only Wilson’s personal physician and private secretary were allowed to see the president. Edith Wilson held sway and administered the presidency as if she herself had been elected.
When something needed to be signed, she wrapped her hand around the president’s and scrawled his signature with a pen. Edith Wilson was our nation’s de facto first woman president … at a time when she wasn’t qualified to vote for the office.
It’s so interesting to look back, isn’t it? If you could ride a magical time machine and go back in time, would you? I would! Definitely! Provided, of course, there was some sort of guarantee I could return to the exact time and place I left behind.
Life without my cell phone? NEVER!  
Recently, I did indeed go back in time, through many decades, and there was no magic involved. All I needed to do was to rummage through my mother’s personal effects – a rather thankless task for anyone who has lost and survived a loved one. Such a painful process – every little thing that belonged to your parent brings back poignant memories.  
My brother Jim and I carted off 20-30 huge bags of things down to the Catholic Charities store on Sixth Street. Mostly clothes, coats and purses. Mother was frugal, but she did have a touch of the fashionista in her. She dressed quite elegantly when going to church.
Anyone who sorts through a parent’s personal effects after they are gone is apt to find a few discoveries. Some are sad, others more than amusing. Among the latter, Jim and I found Mother’s report cards from elementary school in Glendale, Ariz.
We were shocked to learn that Mother actually got some less than stellar marks. We always thought of Mother as a straight A student, and for the most part, she was. However, when Mother was in 8th grade, she was once given a mark of “D-” for attitude and behavior. Her father signed the report card with a handwritten notation “Behavior grade is protested.”
Just like Mother – standing up and protesting injustice.
    The other trip back in time involved going through box after box of family photographs. Wonderful photos of Mother when she was young and vivacious. Unfortunately, there were lots of photo albums of family members whom we couldn’t identify. Hardly any had a notation on the back identifying who the person was.  
    The reality is all photos are meaningful to the person who took them or owned them. However, for each succeeding generation, it’s impossible to identify old relatives. The one person who could identify them is gone.
I decided to keep the photos. Don’t know who they are, but they’re surely family.
Nothing odd about that.

Note: Get vaccinated! Wear a mask! I’ll see you next week – in the newspaper. Rmykl@yahoo.com