A long time ago now I was visiting my Grandma Bessie in the hospital and she asked me to read her a letter from her sister, Elsie. No problem. I began to read a long, detailed account of an outrageous set of circumstances, including a torrid love affair. I was absolutely stunned at the mere thought of my sweet, innocent and shy Great Aunt Elsie and of my most often a bit ornery, but nevertheless loveable Grandma Bessie even knowing about such things, let alone writing of such goings in such graphic and lurid detail. I stopped reading which – disappointed Bessie tremendously. (Trust me -- you never wanted to disappoint her.) Nevertheless -- “Who are these people and how do you know them?”, I asked. I was wondering if they were people from her small, lovely church – which was about the only place either of them went those days. “Oh”, she said, “that’s what is going on in our “programs”. That is what she and Elsie called the soap operas that they watched faithfully every day now that they had televisions. I was much relieved. I mean –Elsie was so shy and timid that she went to bed fully dressed, and Bessie was a grandma who thought wearing lipstick was evil – let alone dancing. No granddaughter of hers would do either. I must admit that some of us sort of let her believe that none of us would. Harmless, right? Anyway – this steamy recounting still “boggles my mind”. (When was the last time you heard that expression?) As it turns out -- obviously -- Elsie was just being a good sister and keeping Bessie up-to-date with all the goings on in their beloved "programs".
Why am I writing about this, you may wonder? Well… my cousin (the one with whom I am writing
the account of the damncovid) and I are currently reading a series of novels
written by Louise Penny. It is marvelous
– involves a fine Canadian detective who solves mysteries -- most of which take
place in a small village in Canada called Three Pines. There are no steamy parts - but the characters and the writing are multi-leveled.
Phenomenal. Obviously, Louise Penny knows that people are able to read between the lines and infer. It's refreshing. Anyway -- each book is better than the last. We both just finished the sixth
book in the series a few days ago, and we are thankful that there are 10 more to go. We often mention elements of the books in our
daily communication. In that – we are
much like Elsie and Bessie. Who would have
thought that would ever have happened? I
mean these were two old gals who had, in their lifetimes, moved from horse and
buggy to moon landing, and they never had the opportunities that my cousin and I have had. I mean -- they grew up without central heating or electric stoves, let alone fast food, handy grocery stores or ... personal care products. My grandma had a pump for water in her root cellar -- just a few steps down from her kitchen. We all drank the cool water from the same ladle and didn't think a thing about it. They grew and canned everything - including meat. Their worlds were smaller and simpler somehow.... At the same time, their lives were much more difficult. But -- they did find time to write.
The difference between a letter and an email is not that
great really. Email is easier, much faster and costs less…
and... there is the spell check advantage.
Other than that, communication by words seems to be a familial tradition – to share the
details of life and... stories. The only difference I
can see is that the ones we are sharing today are much less steamy. What can I say? There was a lot we didn’t know about Elsie
and Bessie, I guess. Miss them and their
sister, Grace. Not sure if Grace was in on
the whole soap opera adventure or not. I
am thinking probably not, but who knows?
Perhaps it is a case of “... the more things change, the more they stay the same….” I sort of like thinking that we have something in common with past generations in spite of living in different worlds with different types of problems and challenges. You know what though -- now that I think of it -- they went through a pandemic too. And ... they survived a great many challenges of their times. Hope we do as well as they did.
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