I WAS WONDERING
When my mother expected a call and finally received word, she would utter, “I was wondering.” We would laugh. Then, it happened to me.
After sending pictures of my aunts and uncles to their cousin’s granddaughter and getting no response, “I was wondering.” Had I done something wrong? Was she ill? An emergency in the family, COVID, what could it be?
Being described as “tenacious,” I was determined not to give up on Rebecca. After all, it took me decades of researching to find a descendant of the Mindlin's, see With A Tear Of Joy, dated July 27, 2021, at sharonmarkcohen.com.
I could not wait to share photographs and stories. So, before heading off on vacation for a few days, I sent Rebecca an email. I queried whether she received the pictures and saw my blog post. In my correspondence, I explained how I found her and the connection of our family.
Lo and behold, the day after returning from our get-away, Rebecca emailed,
“Hi Sharon,
Apologies for dropping off the face of the earth! I left my job of ten years and started a new one so my last few weeks have been full of the transition and everything that goes along with changing jobs/careers!
I did read [your blog post] and will do so again. Fascinating and I’m still in a bit of disbelief that you were closely connected with my grandparents. I haven’t yet been able to pull the bins of pics but I know I have some.”
Rebecca wrote some funny stories about her Grandpa Ben from her growing up years visiting at his place in Connecticut. Presumably, that’s why my parents lost contact…he and his family moved from New Jersey.
In those days back in the 40s, and 50s, communication and commuting was far from what it is today or was pre-pandemic. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, everyone in the world gained an understanding of the difficulty of traveling.
I learned of Ben’s untimely death through his granddaughter. She revealed that he suffered a heart attack while driving and crashed.
There were other family tidbits and tales that Rebecca expressed before promising, “I’ll dig up those pictures and see what I can find. I have some old B&Ws where I’m not sure who’s in them but now I will look with a renewed effort.”
With that, I called my 89-year-old cousin Lois in Ohio. She was pictured in the photograph that I sent to Rebecca. In the picture, Lois is standing between her mother, my aunt Estelle, and her mother’s cousin, Gloria.
Gloria was the only sibling of Rebecca’s Grandpa Ben. Lois is eager to see if Rebecca has any pictures of our family in the collection she mentioned, especially pictures of her mother.
While she’s going through the photos, I hold out hope that she will find some with my parents and older brothers on visits with her grandparents in Morristown, New Jersey, or with her great-grandparents in New York. Minimally, after all these years of research, I would at least like to see a picture of Mollie and Harry and their son Ben, Rebecca’s grandpa, of whom my mother and her siblings spoke so fondly.
Aside from contact with Rebecca, I am also trying to get in touch with Ben’s son Peter, Rebecca’s uncle. With addresses I found online, I tried emailing him and contacting his son through social media.
With no response to my written messages, I tried reaching Peter by phone on 9-1-2021 and left a message. While waiting and hoping for a reply, my mother’s catchphrase rings so true. Here I sit, "wondering."
Gloria Mindlin with my cousin Lois and her mother, my aunt, Estelle