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Pony: #
6.4.2001
Hey Rob, and good to hear from you.
Here is the story. My great grandmother Rose was a crazy Hungarian grande dame. She and her lovely, gentle Ukrainian husband, Isaac were Jewish but never religious. She had four children and as a family they were thoroughly ensconced in the Jewish community of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is important to note this contradiction: Although my grandma Rose would never speak Yiddish, a language she scoffed at as pedestrian and declasse, she still thought that there was something inherently classy, European, high-status (and familiar) about being Jewish. But she was a horrible snob, and while she always judged fellow Jews with her acid wit and ill-humour, she was especially harsh with non-jews.
Along comes her son Harrold, a real "catch" as my Grandma says of her favorite brother. He falls in love with a beautiful, kind gentile woman and that love is reciprocated. Harrold is still, unfortunately, under the tyrannical rule of his mother who, when alerted to his intent to marry this woman, declares that she will disown him, or "sit shiva" for him. So he follows his mother's wishes, pursues a career as a miner/prospector and marries a "__".
(at this point my grandmother shakes her head at how ill-advised it was to marry into that unhappy family. Both brother harrold and her sister married into the same family and according to my grandmother, both were deeply unhappy in their married lives)
Years later, Harrold is visiting his cousin Jack in Flin Flon, Manitoba and they go to a local dance. Who should he see across the dance floor at this small town shindig but the his first love. They cross the dancefloor to each other and embrace. Soon they are both crying. "You see, they had both made unhappy matches and they knew that had they married each other, they could have been good to each other."
At this point my Grandmother tells me that it is OK to intermarry if I find true love.
I want to hear about the rest of your trip! Did you ever meet up with folks who could verify the story? Such an excellent story.
Adina
Hi Adina.
You know, I was lying in bed half-asleep the other day and a story popped
into my head. It was the one about the old man and woman who were teenage sweethearts but who went off and married other people only to be reunited a
thousand years later and realise that they both made a huge mistake and that
they really only ever loved each other. They were family friends of yours
if I remember correctly. You told Sarah and me that one somewhere aroundthe time I told you the one about my grandparents' marriage being brokered over a case of beer in northern Ontario... I need you to tell me that story again. Could you send it to me?
How are you doing? It's been a while. Are you still working at that coca cola place with the little crypto-prodigy? I'm back in Vancouver just
taking it easy and trying to enjoy the stationary life. That's stationary, not stationery. I haven't sold naked lady pens for years. huh?
Hope everything is going well on your end of the country. Send my warm
summer lovin' to Sarah, Adam, Carlin, Yvonne, Julia, etc...
Robert.
