Today is my mom’s birthday (she would be 81). As I posted on Facebook today:
In 1939, the movie Gone With the Wind was released. In 1939, Hitler prepared to invade Poland. On July 2, 1939, the St. Louis Browns defeated the Cleveland Indians 4-3. On July 2, 1939, the carving of Theodore Roosevelt was dedicated at Mt Rushmore. And the most significant event of July 2, 1939, was that Gertrude Weiner (my grandmother, who in 1939 was 42 years old) gave birth to twin girls in a small house at 4760 Heidelburg Avenue. Joan Bobby Weiner and Joyce Louise Weiner were born about 15 minutes apart.
Baby Joy is named after my mom and Deb’s mom: Joyce Elizabeth. But we call her Joy 99 percent of the time.
Every time I paw through my desk drawer for a pencil and see Joy’s Social Security card (“JOYCE MCCONNELL”), for a moment I think, Why do I have Mom’s Social Security card?
Joy is still getting her therapy—physical, occupational, and now speech. All of it by Zoom or FaceTime. It’s not ideal, but we are trying to make it work.
Two weeks ago, Deb stayed at a hotel while we anxiously waited for her Covid test results to come back. (“I’m sure it’s just a cold,” Deb said.) Before she took off for the hotel, she put on a face mask and lay down with Joy until she fell asleep. Actually, they both fell asleep.
And yes it was a cold. A cold that everyone in the house eventually caught.
Joy Elizabeth 