The Way We Were Wednesday - Flossy

I took this picture in the 1970's, this was my grandmother's sister Florence or Flossy as she was known. She led an interesting and troubled life.  She had a baby out of wedlock in the 1920's - that was given up for adoption.  She was well traveled, had lived abroad and was a long term alcoholic.  She and her husband drank themselves into early graves.  I have often wondered if the events of her teens, haunted her. It was not really her choice, she was pressured into placing the baby for adoption. The family never talked about the baby, my grandmother told me about it after Floss had died, my grandmother never told my father.  Such things were not talked about in good families.  By not talking, her grief was buried and denied.  

Her husband Dick was an executive with a tire company.  At one point their drinking landed the two of them in the hospital for a couple of weeks.  When they were discharged the doctors recommended a change of scene to his employer (who had covered the cost of drying them out.) The employer agreed that a change might be just the thing to help them stop drinking, so they arranged a two year assignment, in Scotland!  Dick gave up drinking beer, and had a new favorite tipple.  

Kind of a downer post.  Flossy was loved by the family, who never really understood what troubled her, and she never talked about it.