June Chitchat

[Prot]

Same here re more recent movie stars. Bogart was a good actor, who passed away far too soon. I've read that he was actually a sophisticated and highly intelligent man. Alistair Sim was a good actor too.

[agate]

Odd fact: My mother went to school with Humphrey Bogart's sisters. She said he had a speech impediment, and you can hear it ever so slightly in his movies.

[Prot]

I had no idea. What was the impediment? If all goes well I'll be a grand uncle on Monday. Should I feel guilty for feeling ambivalent about it. He will be my youngest niece's son . I have been here nearly 9 years, and the only birth family person I have seen is my late father. There are understandable reasons re my brother, who is not doing well. There are no such reasons for my sister and nieces.The older one will be 32 this year and the younger 29. . I've seen very little of them. I won't see my grand nephew much.


My sister is being far more helpful and supportive about my brother's troubles, than she has ever been about mine. I feel both glad that he's getting the help and support he needs, but also hurt and jealous at the same time.

[agate]

If my mother went into more detail about Humphrey Bogart's speech impediment, I've forgotten them, but I did look Bogart up on Wikipedia and found that there has been considerable debate about how he got the slight lisp that is noticeable sometimes. People seem to assume that it came on later in life but he must have been only a teenager when my mother knew his sisters.

I don't know if it's of any comfort to you but I've run across many people who have close relatives who exist but haven't stayed in contact. It's very unfortunate as we could use friends and support as we age. I've known any number of people in this building who are in that situation: a woman who died at nearly 98 but whose married son and married daughter both lived in remote states. The son never visited in all of the years she lived here (at least 10 years), and the daughter visited once or twice.in all that time. Briefly.

There is a woman who sits out in the hall these days and can no longer get groceries due to dementia. She is relying on whatever food neighbors give her. It has come to light that she has a daughter and two sisters but both are in another state and apparently not in contact with her as nobody here has ever seen them. They should be obliged to come to her rescue but it doesn't look as if that is about to happen.

Families often exist but aren't being traditional families. I'm beginning to think that traditional families might be the exception rather than the rule.