October 23rd

Grace was bored the other day, and decided (though I declined the offer) to read to me the things that had happened throughout history on October 23rd (My Birthday). I had heard some of it before... So, as she read, I listened to the list as she read along...listing numerous bad things that had happened on that day in history. I kept thinking, wow, a lot of bad stuff happened on my birthday. Lots of battles began on this day, rebellions, beheadings, etc etc. Gloom and doom, Great. She continued...the beginning of the great depression in 1929. Nice timing. Oh, and you'll love this, in 1940 Walt Disney released the movie 'Dumbo'! How appropriate for my birthday! Ha. She kept reading, and I kept saying "Great, That's Great, Great". Then, out of the blue, I heard one I have never heard before: Zane Gray died in 1939.

"What?" I said.

Zane Gray died on October 23rd, 1939. Ouch. That one really hit me below the belt. My mother's favorite author died on my Birthday. I'm surprised I never heard that tidbit before. Perhaps Mom never knew. If she did she never said anything. My Mother loved Zane Gray books. I don't exaggerate when I say she read every one of his books a hundred times. She loved to read them. She owned most of them and would always talk about how descriptive his writing was. How she could just picture what he was describing. On one vacation, she drove through Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona or New Mexico, just so she could see one of the area's he often wrote about. I knew a lot about Zane Gray from listening to my Mom all those years. They even have a motel on Catalina Island called the Zane Gray Motel. He evidently liked Catalina. Each room in the motel was named after a book...in place of room numbers. So, the avid reader could stay in the 'Riders of the Purple Sage' Room. Interesting, but it was still a slap in the face that he died on my Birthday. It left me kind of sad, thinking of my Mother. On the other hand, my Mother loved Zane Gray, and I have no doubt she loved me too. And if she ever even knew that he died on October 23rd, she never mentioned that to me...but of course, she wouldn't. I'm not sure the listings of 'Things that happened on this Day in History' is such a good record to read. All the stuff that makes history is the bad stuff. I guess that is the nature of man. Anyway, Happy Birthday self! And though I could never really get into reading Zane Gray books (and I tried), I can tell you my Mother enjoyed countless hours of entertainment reading his novels. Ironic that I always aspired to being a writer...but my brain don't work good nuff to put that miny salyiabbles together in one place. But I can dream. Zane Gray: May you rest in peace. And for all of you out there...read a Zane Gray book, and think of my Mother Eva Mae as you read it. She would like that.