Grammies

When my mother was 19, she married her 17 yr. old boyfriend. She was in love and he was determined to do anything he had to in order to enlist in the Army Air Force. His parents refused to give him permission, so he took the only way he could think of to make it happen. He knew if he came to his parents and told them his girlfriend was pregnant with his baby, they would insist he marry her. So, that's what he did, and that's what they did. Then, he convinced my mother, who was now his legal guardian, to sign his enlistment papers. Deed done.

After her husband enlisted and left her, my mother went to live with his family. They took her in so that they could take charge of their grandchild. My mother was never really part of the family. Her in-laws saw her as a scheming interloper and did their best to convert her to their way of thinking. If they had to put up with her, then they would make sure she didn't embarrass them. The only member of the family who accepted her was her husband's Grammie. My mother grew to love her and depended on her for companionship. Their bond must have been close because even her eventual death didn't separate them.

My mother's first husband became a pilot and was sent overseas to fly missions over Japan. He was a successful pilot as far as I know. No one really talked about this part of the story probably because it didn't last long. I'm not sure when he went but before he did he was stationed somewhere out west. He asked my mother to come out and visit him before he was sent overseas, which she did, over the objections of her mother-in-law. Her son was conceived during that visit. Judging by my brother's age, there wasn't much time for him to fly many missions over Japan. He was killed when he volunteered to go as an observer on another flight right after he returned from flying his own mission. That flight ended in a mid-air collision with another US plane in a cloudy, smoky sky.

One night my mother was awakened from a sound sleep. When she opened her eyes, she saw her Grammie-in-law standing by her bed. She was startled but Grammie told her not to worry; her husband was with her and would be alright. Then she disappeared. The next day a telegram was delivered with the news that her husband was missing in action. It was years before they found his remains which were then buried at Arlington. My mother had remarried by that time and had other children by my father. She had been told by other fliers that they had seen the crash and there was no way anyone had survived. She believed the truth in this as best she could, but I think she was comforted by the memory of her vision of Grammie and the words spoken to her.

My mother went on to experience other visions, some of which she told me, and others that, I'm sure, she kept to herself.