The Other Casualty Of War

This is a photo of my mother in August, 1941,

leading Prince & Queenie to the auction block.

This was traumatic.

The United States was on the verge of entering

Word War 11 and the government had taken over

their land in New Brighton, Minnesota, to build

a munitions plant. This was traumatic

.

The National Guard was called out and did not

even allow the families to gather the produce out

of their gardens! This was traumatic.

We live with this, to this day.

The blessing is that none of Dorothy's 

four brothers perished in the war.

Visit to Grandma Geisbauer

The occasion is my First Communion, May 20, 1962,

54 years ago. I was 7, Grandma was 77.

Any milestone in a child's life is important across

generations. Being unable to attend the actual event

at St. Joan Of Arc, of course, Grandma wished to

see me in my dress. So, it was off to Rice Street in

St. Paul. I lived too far away from my other Grandma.

I remember this so vividly-Grandma didn't want to

crush my veil, so her arm is barely touching me 

outside of the veil.

I wonder if she had memories of milestones at the

church of her childhood. I always ask people if they

feel a kind of pull toward places of their past.

They always say yes, as I do.

As was typical of the time, the film was not developed

until 2 years later!