I turned 55 today. That number just keeps getting higher and higher. I mean, I could even retire if I wanted to. I wouldn’t get a lot of money each month, but I could do it. I know 55 is just a number, but getting older is….weird. I know it’s a privilege to grow older, and not all will get to do it (I’ve lost a couple of peers to cancer), but it is a trip, (pardon my Gen X-ism).
Something that helps me feel better about aging is surrounding myself with people who are older than me. I can glean wisdom from those who have walked this path before me, which I find comforting.
I turned 50 in 2020 and that’s when I started digging into my family’s history. My acting teacher told me that when we are younger, we think about the future, and when we are older, we think about the past. I am right on time on that end. It’s like a timer went off on my 50th birthday, and I developed this sense of urgency to trace my family roots. Speaking of which…
Look what I found in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper archives:
My Great Grandfather Declares Bankruptcy in 1925
Apparently, he was a bit of a high roller back in his day. He had a big house built for the family on the Oakland/Piedmont border. According to my Grandma Gerry, “It was the Roaring 20s and times were very prosperous. Daddy loved auction sales and was always buying. We had lovely oriental rugs and furniture. But we never seemed to have much cash, lots of credit, and very little spending money.”
No wonder he went bankrupt. Grandma went on to say, “Daddy had a stroke. Creditors took the house.”
And this happened before the Depression! My Great Grandma Katie was widowed pretty young (she was 15 years his junior and lived another 34 years after he passed), but in her writings, she seemed optimistic about the future:
“Now at the age of 77, as I drive across the Bay Bridge and I see the skyline changing with taller and taller buildings, I feel a sense of pride. Like the success of my own children and grandchildren. The city seems to be a part of me and my own family. I am left wondering, if all the great new things to come, will ever equal some of the ease and comfort, in the lives of my great grandchildren.”
Theresa Donahoe 