Cathy

Maybe people are looking at the philosophy aspect of this letter, but as the ones she is talking about looking irresponsible...thats all they see (Docky & Connie) and the whole family.Docky said it made the O'Connor side look like they were entitled, greedy and ungrateful. Docky would spend outs as a teenager acting out plays with Aunt Alice and Uncle Frank, and she hated it most of the time, she wanted to go see if there were any good looking boys. But Aunt Alice didn't write a letter saying thank you to Docky for all her efforts in being with them and helping them with their play skits.

Exactly brant

Marna (Docky) did finish school. Aunt Alice heard Marna wasn't attending school, but didn't realize at the time of this letter school was out for break. Connie was the youngest of Aunt agnes's children, Aunt Alice did loan Connie the money. But Connie's uncle on the Papurt side ended up buying Connie the dress and she didn't have to pay him back. Connie got angry with Aunt Alice and did not repay back the entire loan. Docky does not like this letter, it killed Aunt Agnes to have to go to Aunt Alice in help on supporting Docky's schooling. But all made sacrifices at that time for Aunt Agnes's children to achieve what was best for them...and most of the sacrifices were made out of love for the family. I no being who she was, has brought this letter to the attention of people who want to know Aunt Alice's life, but most letters like these are only known in private to the families who received them. This was personal, and it wasn't the fact that Aunt Alice gave Connie a lecture about responsibility, but that its out there for everyone to see, and my Aunt Agnes felt that she was less then a mother. This letter still haunts Docky to this day.

~HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE~

I hope all of you had a nice Christmas and I want to say thank you so much for being my friends

I wish for all of you a very Merry Christmas!

The popular singer Al Green was recently honored at the Kennedy Center with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He was interviewed on the PBS Newshour on December 8. In one of his responses, Mr. Green said of his career origins: “I was in San Antonio, Texas. And I made a vow, and that’s what started all that, that I would work. And when I work, I work as hard as I can every time, no matter if I’m sick, I’m well, I don’t feel good, whatever. I think the audience deserves to see the best there is . . . .” In the letter I quoted, Rand mentioned brightness in connection with work. A couple decades latter, she wrote some essay in which she said that even rather menial work can use intelligence. I would add that it is not always a matter of only intelligence that can be laid out in words, like writing up a good procedure. I worked while I was in engineering school at a plant that built locomotives. I recall being given a tour in one department in which my guide was showing the workmen packing into the metal chamber known as the high-voltage cabinet all the electrical cables that come to contacts there. My guide showed me a cabinet that was being packed by a newcomer and a cabinet that was being packed by an old hand. The difference in appearance, in the sense of orderliness and security in appearance, of the two was dramatic. It was an art, and there too is intelligence. I’m reading a recent book on the conception of friendship in the writings of Thomas Aquinas, and I’m making a little review of it, comparing it to other conceptions. That is how I came across this 1944 letter. I don’t know how far Ayn Rand’s ideas about friendship at that stage may have evolved (or not) as more years of life went by. Hi Stephen, I love reading letters she wrote especially about Uncle Frank. When I talk about things she had told me growing up...it is not a quote because it was understood by a child. But when I read the things she writes and her terminology (because she actually talk like she wrote and didn't care if you were a child) I would understand it as a child would. But now reading her things I understand it as an adult and I find her more amazing. I use to drive a shuttle bus back and forth from the Holiday Inn to Cleveland Hopkins airport for business execs back in the early eighties. I had a very, very important exec and was told to be very, very pleasant to this gentleman. So of course I was extremely nervous and didn't know what to say to him. When I picked him up he was very well dress and seemed all business. All I could think about is I have an hour and a half drive with this suited, stuffy, businessman and thought I would have rather been in high school driving with my principle. But the reason I remember this man is because he was like anyone else I would drive back and forth with. I soon forgot he was so important and we talked and laughed the whole ride. But what he told me, and I have never forgotten it because in my mind I thought of Aunt Alice. He asked me what I thought of lazy people. I told him I didn't like lazy people because it wasn't fair for me to pick up their slack when we both work the same hours for the same pay. He said, exactly! That's what most people would say. He said, have you ever tried looking at it from a different view. I told him no and thought there couldn't be any good view to work with a lazy person. He said he owned many top notch factories all through out the country and most of my workers are the laziest son of a bitches on the planet and I love them all. By this time I was laughing, thinking you must be crazy. He said, awww you laugh, but the laziest people have made me rich. They are so lazy they will look for the easiest and fastest way of re-doing a part or putting it back together..therefore parts go out faster, more efficient and I don't need to hire more man power. Right away I thought of Aunt Alice. She would tell me, no matter what my capabilities were just do the best I can with what I have. Always do your best and it will be recognized. I thought about that back then through the drive, if your lazy, and you do your best at it, you will recognized...even with (I thought) a disadvantage. I started noticing lazy people and their short cuts of doing things and believe me it has paid off for me over the years. Thank you Stephen, things like this help me remember, at the time, I thought were the little things that now I know made a big difference in my life ~Cathy~ Merry Christmas!

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Ok thank you Michael!

http://file:///C:/Users/cathy/Downloads/Report_of_Guardian_Ad_Litem_11.16.83.pdf

please tell me how to get a PFD file on here.

file:///C:/Users/cathy/Pictures/Report_of_Guardian_Ad_Litem_11.16.83%20(3).pdf

I think Ayn Rand/Aunt Alice would have liked it...it would have made her feel at home. And she probably would have answered back

I can see why it drove my mother insane ; )

LOL! Hi Brant!

Thank you so much Mikee! Yes, I am doing much better now, thank you.I also admire her now, just for the things she has over came coming to this country and being a success. I realize now how much she did teach me unknowingly to me at the time. I don't know how I would have thought about things if I knew who she really was. Maybe I was lucky not knowing in a way, because now when I think back on the conversations, either one on one or as a whole family, I understand so much more now. But if I knew who she really was, I might have ignored all the conversations thinking she was an arrogant bore or something. This way I can always love her as my kooky dear Aunt Alice. But in all reality, it was Uncle Frank who taught me understanding. He would say, be patient and listen, you will understand, if not today, you will one day soon. He was more of the laid back soft spoken type and when he would talk, I would listen...basically because he didn't talk much. So I always wanted to hear what he had to say, and it was always worth listening to. But you are right...I had someone right there who could have taught me so much about life and questions I may have had...and I didn't even know it. Maybe its my time to learn now from the past and not then. Hope you have been well Mikee and life is treating you good ~Cathy~

Thank you Michael. And thank you also Adam. Nice to see both of you again also.

Yes, she loved cats! My mother & father had Conny's name already decided, but they didn't know they were having twins. They didn't know what to name me so it was my aunt Alice that came up with Cathy because she loved cats so much. My dad was a dog lover and they would argue over which animal was best to have. My father use to say he didn't like cats because they were sneaky. He didn't like to see them sneak up and pounce on birds. My aunt would say that cats are self reliant, what more could you ask from an animal. She said humans were hunters also and self reliant. Neither one was going to change the others mind about it. Welcome back Cathy: Hope this finds you and your family healthy and safe. I was always a dog person. My thoughts were that cats were too "snooty!" I was also highly allergic to them. At any rate, they started to earn my respect when I started working at the Animal Medical Center in NY City the summer before I started college. I learned that although they are quite independent, they are also quite loving animals. Later on in life, my wife and I had one rescue dog and five rescue cats. One of them used to sleep in the curl of my knee lol. Her name was Devious. Cats are quite cool. A... My very favorites are dogs, and it maybe due to my father always hating cats. I do like cats to a point, but I also don't like it when they put dead things on my door step. When I was very little, I use to think I was a cat in my prior life because of my name...I even would meow instead of talk which would drive my mother insane. My aunt Agnes would tell my father to stop arguing about which ones are better dogs or cats to my aunt Alice. Aunt Agnes said, you know those are her children she never had. She said they were the perfect children for Aunt Alice...independent from birth...then she would laugh. Thank you for helping me to remember that...brings back good memories

Yes, she loved cats! My mother & father had Conny's name already decided, but they didn't know they were having twins. They didn't know what to name me so it was my aunt Alice that came up with Cathy because she loved cats so much. My dad was a dog lover and they would argue over which animal was best to have. My father use to say he didn't like cats because they were sneaky. He didn't like to see them sneak up and pounce on birds. My aunt would say that cats are self reliant, what more could you ask from an animal. She said humans were hunters also and self reliant. Neither one was going to change the others mind about it.

Now I love it also

I am sure that you can access audio books. Moreover, the National Library has some excellent programs for folks with visual problems. I have no problem accessing federal programs when you are a tax paying citizen...you should look into these programs. Since you are a Helen Keller admirer, one of her essays influenced me at a very deep level...enjoy...: That was amazing! I am so happy you shared this! I am going to read this over and over, just so I don't ever forget to not only look at something, but to really see it, and not to only listen to something, but to really hear it. The part I really understood was when she was talking about looking at misery and said..."To close the eye on them is to close the heart and mind". We get immune to the suffering of people, maybe because we see it on t.v. and know its not real, or we think its the suffer's problem and none of our business...we get calloused, or its to hard to think about. We just stop feeling because its to hard for the heart to take. I don't want to be like that...but I can see how it happens. I also see how Helen Keller with all her limited inabilities has overcame what I have had all along and have done nothing but go through life without really living, seeing and hearing. I have taken for granted my abilities and I have come to the conclusion after reading this that I am lazy. I have a lot to learn and if I live twenty more years, I am going to put my abilities to good use...how I wish I could do life all over again...thank you Adam! ~Cathy~

Thank you Michael! This Kindle has open doors for me like you wouldn't know...I love it! I even take it to work with me and on my breaks I read! I am so happy it was invented in my lifetime! This might be something that could help Ellen also. I remember her saying she had problems with her eyes to. I am learning a lot about Aunt Alice...and I am liking what I am learning. And I am remembering the little (hints) that she tried to instill in me. Didn't know at the time, but figuring things out fast. ~Cathy~

Did you enjoy the film? A... Yes Adam, I did enjoy the movie, thank you for asking. I use to read all through my childhood, in forth grade I read every Helen Keller book or Annie Sullivan book that was written. But when I started having children I was to busy to read or do about anything but play and take care of the babies. When they finally were grown and I had time to read, my eyes had gotten worst and straining to read the fine print would give me terrible headaches. But I bought a Kindle, and I can read again! I have downloaded so many books (mostly Ayn Rand) of course, its going to take me a lifetime to read them all. At night when supper is done and clean up, I read. Sometimes I read until 2am and I have to be up by 7am lol! But its worth it and I love it. I have 3 things that I wouldn't give up for the world, my laptop, my Kindle, and the print of Uncle Frank's painting Brant gave me! ~Cathy~ s

I am reading "We The Living" next. I watched "the Fountainhead" on T.V. hmmmm...that should count as reading ;)

I had absolutely no doubt that you would. Welcome to the party Cathy. A... Thank you Adam!