I remember looking
at a picture
of two people
I had seen before

My cousins
It looked like
F.Scott Fitzgerald
and Daisy

My Mom did not
want to talk about it

I did

Later on Mom
told me
that these two people
fell in love
got married
in a very short
matter of time

Lena got pregnant

Paul was a doctor
during the Depression
Ma said that people
lined up to see him

He was brilliant
but weak
He took no money
No-one had money

He got paid
on a barter system

Meat, groceries, etc

Lena had a hard time
She became addicted to pain medications
and when her doctor said "no"
Paul became her supplier

He started drinking
lost his liscence
It was a mess
but Lena prevailed

She was an awful Mother
too high to care for the baby
Relatives had to help

Paul loved medicine
He was hired as an orderly

My other cousin;
a doctor petitioned
NY State
What a waste
Paul was broken

Lena just could not be a Mother
this child meant nothing to her

She was too selfish
and self absorbed
to be a parent

These two should never have married
it was a toxic relationship
They ruined each other

Paul Finally got his liscence back
became ill
Cancer
and died
Lena
went to live with her child
He had married
No matter what

Peter took her in

She was bitter, demanding
and still wanted her way

She became ill
Cancer- the same cancer
Paul had

She no longer wanted to live
got in her best nightgown
and overdosed

Her Grandchild found her
She had a rose
and a note

"Open the window"
So my soul will get out
She had no soul
The child would not
She later told me
that Lena loved only
one person
Her self

a book was written about the two
It was not well written
Never read it

The whole thing was a tragedy
but it really did happen

Peter became a total control freak
the exact oppisite
of his parents

The moral of the story
Don't really know
They never should have met

but they did

02/27/2021