Our Emerald Isle – Legacy
Inheriting a lot of money is an awesome responsibility. I was not taking it lightly. Of course I did not know for certain how much
I would be receiving but I expected it would be several million. I was bound and determine not to let the
windfall change me or my way of life. A
trip now and then, perhaps a new car, an Italian handmade suit, Gucci shoes,
catered meals, you know just the necessities of life.
Brian and Traci were not as fortunate as I because they
would have to share the portion Doris would
leave them. They were not overly upset
of course but their needs would have to be scaled back and could only be half
of mine. My mother had another son by a
former marriage but he was pretty well off and while I am not a pauper my
assets do not match his. He probably
would not care if mom’s cut of the three way pie were just given to me. Marsha had a daughter, Rene’ who would get Marshas’s
share. So everything was as it should
be. It never occurred to us that perhaps
our mother’s and Marsha had plans of their own that may not have included
indulging their children that really didn’t need anything anyway.
All of us scampered around to bring the pub up to standards
that our mother’s ( Marsha included in the term mother because she had been
part of our lives for over 30 years) would approve. It wasn’t so much Brian and I that cared but
Traci and Bev did want to show the mom’s that their boys were being well taken
care of, a woman daughter wife mother thing I guess. Anyway the place sparkled, all was where it
should be, nothing out of place.
They arrived promptly at three like they said they
would. It was great to see them and they
were just as glad to see us and were really impressed with what we had done
with Devere’s Pub. We chatted about this
that and then another but nothing of any consequence, meaning inheritance, was
brought up, but that was OK, we really enjoyed ourselves and for short periods
forgot when the grand announcement would take place and what the particulars would
be. They were enchanted by Ray the Raven and thought Abdul was a nice guy after
they found out he was not a Muslim but a Baptist as proved by his wearing of an
Irish Baptist Convention name tag.
After dinner that night Doris
was the one who broached the subject.
I guess I was the first one to pick up on the words “of
sorts.” What do you mean by “of sorts”
Doris?
Marsha: Well let me
answer that. I had gone to Oklahoma Doris . We chatted and decided that it had been years
since we had seen the Grand Canyon and decided
to drive out that direction. When we got
to the Arizona state line I mentioned to Doris that the last time I had been in
Arizona was when your Dad and I stopped in Tucson on our way to California and
looked your mother up, Snapper - Jan.
Doris always the adventurer said she had met Jan a couple of times and
why don’t they just change plans a little and drop down to Tucson Doris
said, Jan may want to go to the Grand Canyon
also.
Jan: So they
did. I must admit I was very shocked
because I had not seen either one of them since that time at Mama’s house when
all three of us where there for one reason or another and Ted was helping
Rene’s boy friend fix his car or something.
I thought it very funny to see Ted so uncomfortable.
Marsha: Me to but I
wasn’t about to say anything because I had to go home with him that night.
“Well,” I said “I remember that also, but how did you win
the lottery?”
Brian, Traci, Bev and
I were finally told the story. Although
all three women told different parts of the story at different times and
sometimes and the same time, let me try to consolidate it for brevity sakes.
Doris, Marsha, or Jan:
“We talked about what we all had been doing and who perhaps
we had been doing it with, just girl talk.
Then we talked about all the kids and grandkids and as you might suspect
we talked about Ted. It was funny that
we all had similar stories about our lives with him but there was just enough
difference in every ones age and his at the time we were together, that he was
a different man when we each new him.
But there was a continuity that made things very similar when in came to
his basic personality. Places and times change
but people don’t, or at least not a whole lot.
Now we are not here to talk about all that. That was then and this is now. For one reason or another we decided to buy a
lottery ticket, you know just for fun.
We thought about just getting an automatic pick but decided to pick the
dates of our children’s birth days.
However we were two numbers short.
So we picked Ted’s birthday and
the date we bought the ticket.
Well we hit five out of six numbers, the date we bought the
ticket was the one we missed. So instead
of the multi million we only won $50,000.00 a piece after taxes.
We decided we would all take a round the world trip and
thought what a better place to start than visiting the kids in Ireland Dublin Belfast Arizona Doris
to Okalahoma, and Marsha to Kansas
City
“ I think it is about time to go to bed now, we leave
tomorrow morning and have a busy schedule ahead of us as you can see.”
Well as you can tell my Gucci stuff was a thing of the past,
but I really didn’t care. It was nice to
see them altogether and happy.
I suspect Brian and Traci felt the way I did. For me it might have been a little deeper
feeling because I knew all three where as they had only known two. Here they were three women off on the
adventure of their lives all of which I knew at different times in my life and
theirs and Dad’s, and in ways that may seem hard to explain, loved everyone of
them and still do. You love many
different people in life for many different reasons. Each had done something special for me. They may not remember some of the kindness
they displayed when I needed it the most, but I do. I have a good memory and a long one.
That night Bev asked me if I thought it strange that Dad’s
ex wives seemed to be friends “of sorts,” or at least comfortable and compatible
with one another. “ No, not really.” was my reply. “What is it they have in common then?” Bev
asked. “They all married Dad,” I said.
