No shirts, no shoes, no church service

My grandmother, Aileen, was as formal a woman as they came. Born in 1906, she wore a dress and nice shoes every day of her life -- I'm not sure she even owned tennis shoes. Why should she? She didn't play tennis. The first time I saw her wearing pants was during a visit my wife and I made to her in the nursing home late in life. I hardly recognized her.
Aileen was raised in a time when women wore dresses, men wore suits and kids did what they were told for fear of feeling the wrath, in whatever form that might take. Today's parents give our children time outs.
In Aileen's house, I doubt there was a time out chair. She was of the "fear God, fear your parents, fear sin, and everything would be OK" school of thought. A true woman of God, she and her sister, Bess, were the only two of 10 siblings NOT to join the clergy. Aileen did her part to keep the faith, however, by attending the daily 5 p.m. Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Hollister.
The Catholic Church was everything in her life, though being the opinionated woman she was, that didn't mean it's messengers were above reproach. On Jan. 3, 1981, Aileen wrote in her journal that it was "Fr. Sanz again -- oh my" who administered Mass on that day. She respected him, as was her role, but she told her journal that she would've liked a little more depth out of the father on this day. "If he could just serve the meat instead of desserts for homily," she lamented. Hey, she made her daily offering, so she could offer some criticism -- even if the only one reading it would be her grandson 28 years later.
My dad, Tom, was a target in Aileen's diary as well, as he attended Mass with his mother on this day. "Tom took up collection -- very casual dress." Moms notice such things.
At the end of the day's entry, Aileen noted how her friend, Mabel, called to note that her husband, Abe, had been at Southside," the nursing home that would become Aileen's home late in life, "for 7 years -- a long time." Jack, my grandfather, "was only 3 years" in Southside before he passed away. In light of Mabel's lament, Aileen seemed thankful. "I dream a lot about Jack -- the young Jack," she wrote, no doubt before shutting off her light and putting down her journal to fall asleep. She, of course, said her prayers first, as she was nothing if not dutiful. Then she shut her eyes in hopes of seeing young Jack once more. (photo courtesy of Mark Levin's photostream)