Memories and Lawsuits
I keep looking at the footage of the tornado destruction in Gifford. It seems as though my in-laws' old house must be gone. I find it hard to tell where things are in some of the videos but through my friend Nancy, I learned that the house across the street from my in-laws is gone, and from looking at the map and knowing that, as well as where another house, belonging to a friend of hers, is gone....it looks as though it would have been right in the path.
It struck me that I don't even know if I have a picture of that house. My father in law died when I was pregnant with Owen (Lord he would get a kick out of Owen) and my mother in law Alice died in 2004, so it was well before I started photographing the hell out of everything.
We were talking about it at dinner last night and Ernie asked the guys if they remembered the house in Gifford. Leo does but Owen was only 2 1/2 when Alice passed away. I remember doing some of the last cleaning of the house when it was empty and letting the boys ride their tricycles around the living room....I thought there was a chance he might remember that. He said, "Oh yes, I remember that house," only to go on and recount a story that was actually at my parents' brief tenure at Prairie Winds. What he remembers is playing in the closet and my father, who was in the thick of Alzheimer's, yelling at him. And I gotta tell you it breaks my heart that is the memory he has of my father. However, I do know that Owen is also the first one to talk about what Grandpa Joe would do, and he's proud that his middle name is Joseph, so I know that's not his perception of his grandfather but it still made me a little sad that he remembered that.
The whole family is in agreement however, that if my father were alive he'd be drawing up plans to sue the entire Champaign school district. Because it wouldn't matter what it was, if someone upset one of his beloved grandsons he would be quoting Supreme Court rulings left and right that proved they should be taken to court. If you knew my father you will just smile and nod your head in understanding. I do miss him.
Owen and my father, 2006