Mondays With Mary #8- Cheryl tells the rest of the story

After reading Moving A Farm - Mondays With Mary, I had a nice long communication from the wife of my dad's youngest brother. My Uncle Gene and Aunt Cheryl bought an acreage and moved just down the road from my parents in the fall of 1969. They helped each other out often. They spent lots of time together. My aunt and my mom even shared a birthday, October 27. I mentioned this is my dad's youngest brother. In fact, he is only five years older than I am. Dad was the oldest of eight kids so they string out over time. Uncle Gene is a few years older than his wife; in fact, she is my age.  So, life has always been fun teasing her about being my old aunt. I consider myself her favorite niece, but there are many others on both sides of her family that claim the same title.

She wrote to say my post about moving was bringing back many memories. I have permission to share some of those memories.  I think you will enjoy her words. If  you didn't know my mother, you will get an inside glimpse of her personality (Dad's too). If you did know my parents, you will just shake your head and laugh.

Cheryl says:

"You have in the post that on Nov. 11 'got rugs and laid linoleum'.  Prior to that, we had gone with your folks for the umpteenth time to look at the big blue house.  Mary was making lists of what would be needed.  She said the kitchen needed new linoleum.  Of course, Vern immediately said what was on the floor was good enough ( it was black with only a few spots of color here and there where appliances had been sitting). And the fight was on.  Gene and I stood back very quietly and just watched .  It ended with Mary saying for the 10th time that the linoleum was rotted and needed to be replaced.  Only this time, she bent over, grabbed a corner and ripped the stuff nearly across the whole of the kitchen.  Vern said she could damn well get some tacks and tack it back down.  But I think he knew he had lost."

Cheryl says that the post also said 'put in some cupboards'. "We'll do a Paul Harvey here and tell the rest of the story.  Mary wanted a pantry and a downstairs closet.  She figured out that she could work it in under the upstairs stairway.  She waited until Vern went to a sale when she knew he would be gone most of the day and proceeded to rip out the wall.  Only problem was she ripped right into the chimney.  She called me in a panic and asked me to come down and help her figure out what to do.  Finally she decided she was going to have to use her "egg money" to hire a carpenter to repair the chimney and while he was there he might as well build the pantry and closet she had wanted.  So Vern lost again."