Aunt Laura worked the crossword puzzle every morning, after
breakfast. It took her one cup of coffee
percolated on the stove top and two Lucky Strikes Monday through
Wednesday. The rest of the week took
another cup of coffee and maybe another cigarette before she folded up the
completed work and put her pen away.
Aunt Laura was the sister closest in age to our Dad, and his
favorite. She absorbed the same childhood knocks of abandonment as her two older brothers, and survived with
the same tough spirit of getting on.
Unlike Dad’s other two sisters, Aunt Laura held our Mom at a slight
distance.
Mom exuded a kind of family glue that kept all her
sisters-in-law connected. The others
were more humble, and accepted everything about Mom. But Aunt Laura was a little wary. There was a kind of unspoken rivalry
concerning everything they had in common, from quilting to crossword puzzles.
Each of them produced delicate, beautiful needlework; each
pieced and quilted exquisite quilts. But
for Mom there was always an undercurrent of competition and nowhere more than
the daily crossword puzzle.
Now, they lived twenty five miles apart, so it’s not like
Mom could nip next door and see if Aunt Laura had finished the crossword. But Mom visited around among her
sisters-in-law often and two or three times a month she could see the folded
paper on the corner of the table, the finished crossword exposed. Well before lunch.
Back in her home Mom had the very same Akron Beacon Journal crossword to complete. The puzzles were less difficult at the
beginning of the week, but the difficulty ramped up as the days went on. Mom had a dictionary to check her spelling, a
thesaurus to find words and a couple of books that claimed to contain every
crossword word in the universe.
These well thumbed books found their home here when we set
up housekeeping in 1988. Mom still
visited her sisters-in-law, and still fretted that Laura would be having no
problem with the day’s puzzle. It was
her challenge to herself to keep up. She
was the sister-in-law still driving and travelling, still sewing, who had
learned to weave, but who must still compete and hope to do the crossword as
quickly, completely and accurately as her sister-in-law.
In the six years between Aunt Laura’s death in 1991 and
Mom’s in ‘97, our mother never gave up her daily crossword puzzle. Perhaps the competition would continue in the
hereafter! She certainly kept it alive
in the here and now. To celebrate Mom’s
quiet competition, Jan, Beth and Mark completed the Sunday crossword and
slipped it into the casket for Mom to show to Aunt Laura. It took them all day. They not only sent her off with the crossword;
they gave her a pencil and her tea cup, too. She spent way too many minutes
each day looking for the cup and they wanted her to know where it was.
Jan and Tom, Mom, Mark, Me
Christmas 1988
Beth, who must be the photographer above
Sweet, crosswords and scrabble do bring out the competitive spirit.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw your post title in my reader I knew this was related to your comment on my post. I'm going back now to update the post with a link back to this great story. They deliver the Akron Beacon Journal in heaven - wow!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! Hah, yes, scrabble is a game I don't enjoy losing. We are funny creatures. Wonderful post.
ReplyDeleteOur local papers are the same, I could never get past Wednesday's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteVery nice story.
What a sweet send off...the things she loved went with her.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me cry in tears of happiness, my mom used to do crossword puzzles since I was a child but with macular degeneration she can no longer do them, anything to keep the mind active is a good thing. So wonderful to include a puzzle for her.
ReplyDeleteThey sent her off with a completed crossword puzzle. That is so sweet and appropriate Jo. My dad loved pocket knives and he loved my daughter. She slipped a pocket knife in his casket. It's the little things...
ReplyDeleteI love the send off that your mother was given. I wish I had thought to do the same. Or something similar.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this inspiring post. I would like the last book I was reading in my coffin I think. What would you like in yours?
I totally agree on all points with Elephant's Child.
ReplyDeleteThis was such a beautiful, comforting piece. It makes me think about what object best symbolizes my parents.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to send a completed puzzle with your mum. I love doing the puzzles too. Our Sunday puzzle is huge, the grid takes up about two thirds of an A3 size sheet. I don't often attempt that one, it would take too much of my time, but I do the smaller ones, they don't take too long.
ReplyDeleteI used to do the crossword puzzle every day but then fell out of the habit and then we quit taking the paper. Nice send off for your mom. perhaps the teacup will be unearthed one day by future archeologists.
ReplyDeleteI agree that completing the crossword puzzle is a source of pride. It's also a quiet victory, self-assurance that you still have the smarts to get it right. The completed ones go on the pile of papers face up but the ones that didn't get finished are folded and hidden like a shameful secret.
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet that you all added a puzzle and her cup to the casket. This is such a nice memorial to your aunts and mother - very touching.
ReplyDelete