Day 07
Wednesday
18 August 99
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Oshkosh, Wisconsin

My mum and I continually speak of our boyfriends -- she of Howard and I of Matthew.   She tells me what Howard would order at certain restaurants, and what stores he would shop in; I tell stories of adventures with my man.   We both acknowledge that we would have fantastic time with either man along [or both!].

We have arrived in Oshkosh, where my grandfather grew up (one of 11 children).   This morning in Milwaukee we saw one of my mom's old houses, her high school, one of her brother's highschools, the bridge where she was flashed, and her mother's grave.   I think it was a very moving experience for my mother, who hadn't seen the grave since she left for California at 17 (to sell encyclopedias door to door no less).   My mother is today the same age her mother was when she died.   We also put flowers on the neighboring grave (because it looked as though the visitors had been sparse over the years), which belonged to Geraldine, who had died the same year as my grandmother, but actually been born a few years later (so she was even younger when she died).   Now the two ladies have something to talk about.   I was trying very hard to be respectful and give my mother her space.   We had no trouble finding the stone, and although my mother had envisioned it as highly overgrown, it was freshly mown.   Someday I'd like to plant flowers around it.   I brought the camera along, after the weeping was over, my mother got me by the grave.

It seemed sort of fitting that it began raining when we got to the cemetary (which I must say, was larger than I could have imagined).   The drizzle kept up while we went to Fond Du Lac for lunch and while we hit a few of the 55 outlet stores in Oshkosh.   As this picture of the view demonstrates, it is still overcast and cool.

 
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