Perry L. Gardner: Private Journal #31
Friday, November 30, 1990
Here we are a month later—a little more optimistic. The clutter is still with us, but we have made some dents in it. Today I have been working on an Xmas list—what to get for people that would be something special, and that they and I would both be connected to.
I’m having a bit of a problem writing this, because the numbness in my fingers is still with me, and holding the pen for any length of time makes it worse. Perhaps I should switch to the word processor. The numbness started after painting and waxing the boat last June. Dr. K. didn’t really have much to say about it when I suggested Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I think he agreed that it could be that.
Well anyway, I was given Pete Viemeister’s latest book, A History of Aviation: They Were There. Suzie gave me an inscribed copy after my asking about Pete and showing an interest in the subject. She was celebrating two years of no smoking. It is an interesting book, with lots of B&W pictures and home-town people from Virginia, where Pete is living. I am debating buying another copy and giving it to David or Brent or Philip. Philip is too young—Brent I don’t know whether he would be interested, so maybe Dave is the one this time.
At first I asked Suzie for Pete’s address so I could send him a Christmas card, just for old times’ sake, but after I got the book, I’ve been thinking about a letter to start correspondence. The book has struck a chord with me. I wish I had written it. It begins to point out what I’ve been trying to clarify to myself. What good is all this stuff I’ve been collecting if I can’t communicate it to somebody with interest?—most especially grandchildren who represent the future and a step to the future, future. This explains my interest and frustration in genealogy, and aviation history, and the nostalgia in the models of the Golden Age aircraft. And it shows a key to the urge to write about it.
Every book I pick up sparks a new interest—a new slant on the big picture. From reading about the search for speed, and the piston engine book, and the first Atlantic flights. All these books are telling parts of the same story, but each author presents a different slant. Some books are better than others. Some don’t quite get it right. For instance, I’ve seen so many pictures of the Spanish version of the Me 109, with a Merlin engine used where a real Me 109 with a Daimler Benz should be, and the difference not noted. Even in the Masterpiece Theater “Piece of Cake”, they made the switch. I guess it’s all because there ain’t no flying Me 109’s around, but it still bugs me.
Back to Pete and the book. He has a quote from Derrant in his intro that says it well: “If a man is fortunate, he will, before he dies, gather up as much as he can of his civilized heritage and transmit it to his children.” This is what I would want to do. It would be great to send a message and have a response message received. This is a form of immortality. So much of history has been lost. As the Chinese-American writer, Maxine Hong Kingston said or quoted, “When a man dies, a library burns.”
So, it is time to finish Xmas shopping/thinking, and write some letters.