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More Than a Legacy

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Joyce Brennan
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« on: July 13, 2018, 04:03:17 pm »


Elizabeth Joyce Brennan watched sadly at the grave of her last living grandparent as he slowly entered into the ground. She sat tightly holding her mother Willa’s hand. She looked over sadly as Willa tried to remain stoic as tears streamed down her face.

   Liz would fade in and out between listening to her uncle Glenn talk about the numerous fishing trips up in Bishop, hunting Elk in Colorado and sitting next to Kurt Russell on a fishing trip back in 1991...and her own fond memories of Gramps teaching her to ride a bicycle. Liz loved her Gramps and knew it would be a while before she could mentally surpass the grief.

      “Elizabeth?”….

     Uncle Glenn looked over at Liz awaiting a response. “Elizabeth?” Liz snapped her head in her uncle’s direction dazed, “Huh?”, she responded. She quickly realizes it’s her moment to get up and sing in front of all who showed up to pay tribute to her grandfather Vernon.

    She stood facing everyone; a comfortable grin across her face. “When I was eight, Gramps took me aside and began singing to me”, “You’re just too good to be true, I can’t take my eyes off of you”
, she sang softly remembering one of her favorite memories of Vernon. “He told me it was the song that was playing on the jukebox at the diner in Alabama where he first spotted my Granny Lucy where she was working as a waitress. He said, she had the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen. He knew right then and there that he was going to marry her”, she shared.

   “My grandmother passed when I was four years old. My memories of her are vague, but I remember her adoration of my grandfather, my mother and me. She was a beautiful and gracious woman who my grandfather never truly got over. While none of us could see it, I know that waking up alone without the love of his life by his side was tasking. But I personally feel that they are together again…they are here with all of us, arm in arm. So it’s for them that I want to sing this.”

   With that, her close friend Tyler sat in a chair near Liz and began strumming a beautiful guitar piece of the Four Seasons classic. Soon Liz joined in with the iconic opening, “You’re just too good to be true”…

•••

   The conclusion of the touching service found Liz close-knit, arm-in-arm with Willa. “I’m so proud of you Honey. You didn’t just make me proud today, but I know your grandparents are prouder than they’ve ever been,” Willa bragged pulling her only child close to her. “I’ll be fine Mom,” Liz assured. “Go ahead and catch a right with Auntie Gladys and I’ll call you tonight when Leese and I get home.”

   Liz made her way to her partner since high school Lisa who greeted her with a strong embrace accompanied by a soft kiss on the cheek. “You okay Sweetie,” she asked comforting the love of her life. Liz gazed over into her eyes, “I think so.”

   They took a moment to comfort one another as attendees walked by offering both their condolences. They began walking arm-in-arm to Lisa’s car when a soft voice of an elderly woman whispered behind them, “Elizabeth?”

   Liz looked back to see a stunning woman who appeared to be much older than she looked. “Do you remember me Sweetheart?” the strange woman asked. Liz thought for a second, “I would like to think I’d remember a woman as beautiful as you,” she complimented.

   “Oh, Elizabeth…I used to give you a bath in the sink of the house Lucille and Vernon lived in out in Norco.” Liz squinted slightly trying to remember this woman. While she did seem familiar, Liz couldn’t quite place her. “I’m sorry I cannot remember, but I’m guessing you’re a friend of my grandparents?”

   “Yes…the BEST of friends,” she fondly boasted. “I first met Vernon and Lucille back in 1954 in Knoxville Tennessee.” Liz and Lisa smiled and Liz thanked her, “Well, we all appreciate you coming out all this way to pay your respects, Mrs?”

   “Oh, I’m Lois…and I have actually been living out in Newport Beach for the last 43 years.” Liz’s eyes bugged out as she smiled, “How lucky. I love the beach.”

   “It doesn’t shock me Elizabeth, your Grandma Lucy loved it too. She spent so much time out with us in Newport. When she got really sick, she came and stayed with me so she could spend her final days staring out at the ocean,” Lois comforted.

   “Well, thank you for that Lois. I always regretted not knowing her better” Liz said in a soft, regretful tone. “I’ve heard so many stories about her…I just always felt kind of robbed that I never truly got to know her.”

   Lois gently stroked the ends of Liz’s full strawberry-blonde locks, “The moment you entered this Earth, you were the light of her life. She would brag about how Lizzy took her first steps, and Lizzy and I sang You Are My Sunshine today, and Lizzy is gonna be taller than both her mama and grandma!”

   Liz gleamed, “Did she really?”

   “Oh Gawd yes! She adored you. She would always say, Lizzy is going to be the strong and intelligent woman that we always aspired to,” Lois recollected. She knew that whatever path you journey takes you, it would be a successful path, and little girls from everywhere would look up to you.”

   Liz and Lisa looked at each other as both were taken back. “I don’t know what to say Lois. I thank you so much for sharing all of this. Not a day goes by where I don’t try and talk to her. She was a beautiful woman and I’d be happy just to be half the woman she was.”

   “Well listen you two, I don’t want to take any more of your time. I know you have to go be with your family right now. But Elizabeth, if you can put aside a few hours one day, I have something your Granny Lucy wanted me to give to you if I out-lived your grandfather.”

   “Ummm, we’re actually free the rest of the day if you’re good with it,” Liz offered. “Sure, if you two want to follow me to Newport Beach, we can head out now if you two like.”

   All three women made their way to the parking lot as Liz and Lisa followed Lois to the freeway. 
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Joyce Brennan
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« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2018, 05:01:26 pm »

   All three woman sat out on the patio of Lois’s spacious beachfront home. Liz and Lois sipped on a wonderful Merlot as Lisa nursed a bottle of Evian. They enjoyed the stories Lois shared. It’s the closest Liz has ever felt to her grandmother. She never wanted the stories to end. She was learning that while her grandmother was an amazing woman, there was so much of her she never knew. She never knew that Lucille was one of the last women to play in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. It excited Liz to learn her grandmother was an athlete as well.

   Lois then led them both to the great room where she opened a large plastic container. It contained hundreds of photographs, letters, flyers and Lucille’s original South Bend Blue Sox hat. What caught Liz’s attention was a faded flyer for what appears to be a pro wrestling show dated 1959 in Huntsville Alabama. It was a bill featuring several matches. Close to the bottom of the flyer appeared to be a photo of a young Lucille labeled “Alabama State Ladies Champion, Leopard Girl, Joyce Brennan.

   “Is this Granny Lucy?” Liz asked.

   Lois grinned while slowly nodding. “It sure is Elizabeth. It’s like I said, there’s so much about her you never knew about.” Liz smiled, almost impressed. Lisa smiled looking over at Lois, “So Grandma was a badass! How cool is that?”

   “That is badass!” Liz concurred. “What, she was a pro wrestler, like on TV?”

   “Oh, no Dear. It was a much different business back then. Now the women can’t wrestle and they’re more objectified than back in our day,” Lois recalled. “We trained for a month or so and then we traveled all over the south facing women in Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, the Carolina’s, Florida…”

   Liz shuffled through more flyers featuring her grandmother. “This is so bizarre. Why am I just hearing about this now?” Liz asked.

   “Well, when Lucille and Vernon left Alabama, they agreed to leave it all behind. They felt it would make it complicated to raise your mother and uncles,” Lois explained. “It’s always been a rough life. You travel constantly, you’re in a new hotel in a new city every night for sometimes months. It just wasn’t the way Vernon and Lucille wanted to raise their family. So Vernon sold his share of the promotion they ran in Tennessee and moved out here to California.”

   “So that was it?” Liz asked. “Granny Lucy retired when they moved out west?”

   “Not immediately,” Lois answered. “For the first four or five years out here, your grandma could always make extra money inside the ring. Vernon stopped wrestling once they settled in California. He was just too beat up. But he was at one time one of the greatest wrestlers to ever come out of the south.”

   They continued going through the contents of the box. They went through several flyers, as well as envelopes containing hundreds of photos. One photo immediately caught Lisa’s eye.

   “Look at this Babe,” Lisa said presenting a photo she came across. “So badass!”

[/color]

  Liz stared in awe at the photo. “Oh my gawd….she was a friggin rock star!”

   “Ya know Liz,” Lisa pointed out, “This is exactly what you look like when you get pissed.”

   Liz grabs the picture yet again, studying it, “She looks like my mom when my mom was young.” “The three of you look so much alike. It’s the eyes,” Lois claimed as she stared into Liz’s eyes; almost analyzing them. “You just remind me so much of her. You’re built like a larger version of her. If she had your size, she could have competed on a world level.”

   Hours had passed before they even realized it. Lois and Elizabeth were well into their cups as Lisa was just as fascinated by Lucille’s accomplishments as the other two. Innocently, Lisa asked, “Lois…you were saying that you traveled with them. Was it just the three of you on the road or were there others?”

   Lois’ demeanor slightly darkened as she finished off her glass before placing it in front of Liz to fill it. She took another drink before her confessional, “Mostly, it was just us. But,” she sighs. “It was a different time, what you young kids would call uptight….mostly conservative.”

   Liz interrupted, “About ladies wrestling?”

   “Yes. Part of it was ladies wrestling. But your grandparent were married….and very happily may I add. But the wrestling business back then had its own rules. And while I was a decent wrestler in my own right, mostly I was what we referred to back then as the road wife.”

   Bot Liz and Lisa stopped in their tracks; Liz’s big blue eyes bulging out of her head. “Road wife? You mean like, hooking up type of road wife?”

   “I know it’s strange and possibly disturbing for you to hear about this but your Granny Lucy loved you granddaddy. She loved him and he knew it. Even though both were very close to me, they made me understand immediately that a road wife would never come between their marriage and their family.” Lois continued to sip her drink as she continued to unload the burden of secrecy she had been carrying for so long. Lisa looked on concerned at Liz. There was a sense of tension in their air at the 180 the afternoon had taken.

   “Sweetie, are you ok?” Lisa queried.

   Liz just sat amazed. She shook her head before asking Lois, “So, my grandfather cheated on my grandmother with you?”

   Lois looked up shocked, “No Elizabeth…..I was your grandmother’s road wife.”

   Liz came just short of spitting out her wine. “Whoa!!! You and my grandmother were hooking up?”

   “Elizabeth, you’re grandmother and I had a very special relationship. And let me tell you something about Lucille…she was one of the most loving human beings I’ve ever known. Everyone fell in love with her. She and I, we just loved each other in a way that wasn’t accepted back then. Now, you and your beautiful girlfriend don’t have to hide it. You two can show up to events like today…hand-in-hand…unapologetic about the love you two share. Lucille and I didn’t have that luxury. And while it wasn’t the perfect life for everyone, what I had with your grandparents worked for us.”

   It took a few moments, but Liz had calmed. She thought to herself, “Why should I judge? WHO am I to judge?”

   She looked over and smiled at Lisa gently grasping her hand, “I get it. And I’m sorry for the initial shock. But I couldn’t imagine hiding what Lisa and I have from anyone,” she said trying to comfort Lois. “I’m sorry you had to go through that…I’m sorry my grandmother had to go through that. But I guess the gay gene is yet something else my grandmother and I share,” she gleamed.
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