Grandfather Says: The Continuing Chronicles of Elaine, Part 65

The following was written by my late wife Elaine. She wrote a long book, a diary really, from which this is one passage:

Miscellaneous Thoughts About Life I Want to Share With You

My children are more demonstrative than I and my parents and grandparents were.  The words “I love you” are often in our childrens’ contacts with us, even from our boys, whether it’s e-mail, phone calls, letters, or any other way, and I think they are helping us older generation folks to be more open about our feelings as well. My generation felt the feelings deeply but we weren’t open and verbal about our feelings. Our parents didn’t say “I love you,” but we knew they loved us. It was understood, but it was unspoken. “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song,” words to a song written in 1973, expresses this difficulty in telling how we feel. Often, my generation expressed its feelings in greeting cards we chose for those we loved. Dad and I always loved you all, and always will.

It’s always been interesting and fun for me to enter different kinds of contests. For example, I’ll tell you about one success: I submitted five poems when I was 12 to a local Detroit newspaper and won $1 for each one published. ($5 grand total.)

The very long list of Dave’s cars and our cars beginning with our first 1936 Chevrolet, with ladders on top for his neon sign business, which had windshield wipers which somebody (me) had to activate by turning the switch back and forth, back and forth – and it didn’t have a heater; 1946 Desoto; 1954 Desoto; 1955 Oldsmobile; 1955 Valiant; 1959 VW; 1961 Austin 850; 1960 Saab; 1961 Saab; 1963 Saab; 1964 Saab; 1969 Ford Econoline Van; which was the only vehicle I was ever asked to carry 26 girl scouts in, all at the same time, which I did, and seatbelts in cars were not yet required. Wow! If I did that now, I’d probably end up in jail!

1970 Saab V6 (Saabs used for commuting and/or for parts); 1971 Scout; 1971 Dodge Dart; 1970’s black Dodge;  1972 Dodge Dart; 1973 Honda; 1977 Subaru; 1980 Subaru Hatchback; 1982 Tercel; 1983 Nissan Truck;  1984 Tercel wagon;  1985 Ford truck;  1987 Bronco, mostly for my homebound teaching; 1995 Subaru Legacy;  1995 Dodge truck (2500 HD Diesel); 1999 GMC Suburban.

Some were bought old, and some were new; a few were for commuting many miles a day, both Dave’s commuting back and forth to Washington, and my commuting around to homebound students.

To be continued…

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About the Author: RD Blakeslee (1931 – 2024) built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.

Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family