Sweet Claire

Needless to say, my standing in the Whelan family has never been anything that anyone would wish for . My first meeting with Ruth was after Rick had decided to tell her that Mike had called and told him that he was getting married. Mike had called Rick the week before we were going down to talk to Ruth and Jack to ask Rick to be sure Ruth would be home as Mike felt the best thing to do was to tell her in person. As with a lot of siblings, Rick promised Mike he would not tell and proceeded to spill the beans to Ruth. She hit the ceiling and said we would be wasting our time if we went to see her. We went any how...I believed after she met me, she would change her mind....NOT SO MUCH...she escalated into a mean tizzy as we tried to talk and for the first and last time in my life, I was disrespectful to an adult...I couldn't understand her stand...AT ALL...Oh to be 19 and so stupid again...Ruth said if we got married we were to never come back...we took the challenge...quickly afterwards I knew we had to repair the damage...Ruth is not so 'repairable'...

On our second visit to Ruth, Claire,Ruths twin sister, was there...She was delightful..she fussed over us and said how sweet I was...Ruth would not even respond to Claire's statements...she wasn't ready to make amends...As we left Claire hugged me and looked back at Ruth(to be sure Ruth heard her) and said, " I would be proud for you to be my daughter in law and call me Mom"...I will never forget the simple act of support that Claire offered me in that fragile time of my entry into the family. Thank you so much sweet Claire...

With Clarie's passing today,Ruth becomes the only surviving member of her family. We will not tell her about Claire. She has not talked with her in ages and actually thinks C C is Claire most of the time. I am sad for Ruth but she is in a place in her own mind where she thinks she is still living with her brothers and sisters a lot of the time.

Life continues to roll on....