April 17, 2009
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Wilder, Thornley, Tucker and My Mother
Playwright Thornton Wilder ( Our Town ),
Discordian non prophet Kerry Thornley,
Anarchist publisher (of Liberty magazine) Benjamin R. Tucker,…and my mother, were all born on April 17. My mother would have been 98 today, if she was still alive. It is probably better that she is not. She had already had both knees and hips replaced in the decade before she died (in ’86 at the age of 75) and I had not seen her truly happy, for more than a brief span of hope at the start of each new relationship, since the early 1950s.
Other notable events on April 17 include the miraculously successful return to earth of the Apollo 13 spacecraft after its having been disabled by a ruptured oxygen tank, and the disastrously unsuccessful Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, when a group of CIA-financed and -trained Cuban refugees landed in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
Now Fidel’s brother Raul is expressing willingness to discuss improving relations between the U.S. and Cuba, following some moves in that direction by the Obama administration.
Comments (11)
Good day to be born. We have a joke around here because my man loves space and has watched Apollo 13 in many versions many times. When we all want to watch a movie together he’ll say, “How about Apollo 13?” We all groan, laugh, then pick another movie. Any signs of Spring yet up your way?
That must have been quite a birthday suprise for her being in labor instead of eating cake! Happy birthday to you!
I sure misread that didn’t I?
I’m curious (and also guilty) why we can so easily justify anothers passing if they’re largely both unhappy (most importantly) but also in less than perfect health. its like the only necessary permission-”oh Georgo just cough a bit with that limp and tell everyone your unhappy-but not exactly why or they’ll fix it-the well meaning douches” (married woman lovingly bowed over her husband as if to kiss him goodnight…holding a photograph of another man with lipstick smudges-all in between a shotgun and her spine….the aniversory clock announces 11pm)
My friend’s birthday is today. A lot of people I’m friends with are born in April, for some reason. Just like me.
Perhaps mom is blowing out candles for a different life time now?
@Jaynebug - Pussywillows are spreading pollen and cats are going out catting around a lot.
@Uncious - I wouldn’t want to live beyond a normal lifespan in pain and misery. I assume most other people feel the same way. I don’t understand why anyone would fear death, but I know some people do.
@warweasel - I have a feeling she wouldn’t be in any hurry to come back.
My hubby is a paramedic and sees a lot of ‘prolonged life’ that shouldn’t be. all that intervention isn’t necessarily a good thing. The brave say no to further help and ‘go’ quickly and I believe happier. The ones that fight death tooth and nail live a truly miserable existence. BUT Thank you for sharing your mother’s birthday with everyone.
sorry about my earlier comments..cognitive dissonance and asperger showing..
what did keep your mother going then? she had to have a strong sense of hope and optimism? she seems to have been seeking the better things in life that made her happy. of course, from the 1950′s till the present is quite a long time
I remember the first incident with Jack Kevorkian in the news when I was a child. I was not old enough to appreciate what he was getting at. I have watched too many people agonize over no quality of life to endure medical treatments where they are either further immobilized or so numbed out that they are not there anyways. I had two relatives on my father’s side just stop eating and began willing themselves to die. One of my favorite great uncles just plain said “today is my last day” and the next day he was found in his bed gone during his sleep. He also had both knees replaced with a metal hinged joint as he was explaining it to me and using the term “alloy” a whole lot.
Just stopping by to say hello. Now I’m going back to bed. I’m still not healed.
I saw a show on this guy on the Animal Planet channel the other day and in some weird way he reminded me of you. Anyhoo, if you haven’t heard about him before I thought you might be interested in reading about him!
http://www.chrisgallucci-theelephantman.com/chris.html
@CastroCafe - ”…hope and optimism,” you could be at least partially right about that. She’s the one who taught me to “always look on the bright side.” But in her the optimism was tinged with a sense of whistling past the graveyard. If, by “what kept her going,” you mean what kept her from committing suicide, that would have been fear. She believed in heaven and hell, assumed she was damned for her mistakes and transgressions, and wanted to delay the inevitable, but not enough to follow doctor’s orders to lose weight, change her diet, exercise, etc. For as much of her life as I knew her, she had an, “I’m broken, fix me,” attitude. She never found the doctor with the right pill, or the husband with the romantic magic she sought after my father died.
@quitchick - You hit the perfect day to leave me that link to Chris Gallucci. I’m working on a blog about megafauna.