Rain
If one only knew what will be on
the pages to follow now.
Recovered from a fine New Year’s eve
party at Babe + Larry’s last night.
Watched parades + football games on TV.
Paul Bergelt called to tell us
that his father died.
At New Year’s Eves Party last
night
Claire + Charlie Babe + Larry
Rose + Henry Gladys + Bennett
Gus + Dot Kuppe + Helen
While visiting my dad in Florida, he showed me his father’s “yearbook.” A diary of sorts. I’d seen it before.
Dad mentioned it wasn’t particularly revealing, saying, “An entry might be, “Played golf. Claire, Dolores and the kids came over. Had a nice time.”” We chuckled.
I asked if I could take the book home, with no intention other than reading it.
Well, then, I thought of this – putting the contents on gushoppe.com
The book has entries for both 1964 and 1965. Here’s the 1 January page so you can see how Pop-Pop did it. I’ll be posting it in chronological order over the next two years. Hopefully, I’ll be able to include some other media from the time, too: photos, digitized home movies, who knows?
I’m going to transcribe the entries using Gus’ lines, which will make it something more verse-like, as well as using the first few words as each entry’s title.
I hope you enjoy it. 1964, Freeport, New York here we come!
– Rand