November 18, 2015

Shore Leave


It kind of kills me that I'll never know what they were watching.

5 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

It kind of kills me that I'll never have those shoes.

That Hank said...

I didn't even notice them.

Birdie said...

Here's a story. My nana fell in love with a sailor. She got pregnant at 17 and had to get married. They had two more children before she was 19 and then he ran off because he was gay. Her family, god bless them, welcomed her back with all three babies with open arms and she lived with them. I love this story because this was 75 years ago and her family could have easily told her that she had made her bed and could lie in it. But then again, I have never been able to find *her* parent's marriage certificate (another cousin has looked too) and we think they were never married and they had 10 children. It just goes to show that people can be awesome even when things were supposed to be done a certain way.

That Hank said...

That is an amazing story. Except now I wonder what happened with the gay sailor!

Birdie said...

He lived a very busy life in Vancouver's east end that at the time was a safer place for gay men. Safer. Not safe. I do a geneology and came across his death certificate. He died under suspicious circumstances from a head injury. The death certificate said that it was under investigation but nothing came from it. Typical for a gay man living in Vancouver's east end in 1983. If you have morbid curiosity like I do, here is his death certificate.

http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy/DisplayGenealogyImage?k=da88c820-4948-43ee-8bd5-a03a2b254823

Not only was this situation sad for my Nana but for him as well. How horrible it must have been for his to have to pretend he was *not* gay and have to try to fit into a heterosexual lifestyle with my nana. I think what it would be like for me to have to pretend I was gay. I think I would take off too. He tried. 3 children prove that but it just didn't work. In the end I think he did the right thing. He left the family in a muddle but it would have been worse for him and his family if he stayed.