Continuing Family Ties

     With the groundwork information gathered from Uncle Chris in Santa Cruz an opportunity presented itself to visit my Aunt Lynn in Rancho Murieta, California.  Using the experience in Santa Cruz as stepping stone I decided to make same changes to how I would conduct myself. Most obviously.. I would write questions and tape the interview. So with my cheap camcorder and notepad I set out.

      Traveling out to  Rancho Murieta from Santa Cruz with my friend Jean, who had a potential job interview in nearby UC Davis Medical Center,  we arrived late in the night. Early the next morning Aunt Lynn, Uncle Bill and I spent time talking about her memories of her father.
     As the oldest child of the Dollar family talking to her would be an interesting perspective on the life of her father that would be essential to understanding Clyndon Dollar better.  This was also the perfect excuse to catch up with my aunt and uncle, who I have don't really have an opportunity to see that often. Aunt Lynn's recollections largely focused around what her mother had told her about first meeting my grandfather. It was very interesting to see the view point of my grandmother, who was married to my Clyndon for nearly 45 years. Aunt Lynn recalled hearing my grandmother talk about my grandfathers personality and the PTSD episodes that would occasionally surface. Hearing about the dedication, loyalty and love my grandmother had for my grandfather through all his trials was very heart warming. My aunt's stories of her own memories of my grandfather in particular were also helpful in furthering my visualization of what living with a PTSD victim could be like. Often she referenced incidents of "acting out" by my grandfather, but similar to my dad and uncle there is a reserved sense of respect that limits the level at which they would discuss such matters. I wouldn't be able to get a concrete example of what sort of behavior this entailed until I talked to my Uncle Norm later in the year.

     After talking with my uncle and aunt, we toured around the Rancho Murieta community. It turned out their house was in a large gated community that had many sprawling lakes. The picture above is one of the lakes that is actually in their backyard. The tree in the picture is a special pine that was originally rooted in the Dollar's childhood home in San Clemente. Evidently the original pine was enormous and towered over the house, eventually cracking neighbor's paved patio or driveway. Somewhere along the line my Uncle Bill had saved a seed from the tree and brought it along to raise another tree. Because my grandparents house was sold and consequently torn down, after they died, my uncle took it upon himself to raise the tree with plans to disperse new saplings to the six Dollar brothers and sisters. My uncle informed me it was a species of Japanese pine which made the tree all the more compelling.
      Ending my day with my Aunt and Uncle I began the journey home with my friend Jean. During the drive home I couldn't help see the parallels between the tree and my grandfather. A towering figure with in the family's memory yet a Japanese past  intertwined in its identity. The trees enormity eventually creates cracks within the lives around it, but the memory lives on through the saplings it produced.

Next Post: I'll have a briefing on what I learned from my Uncle Norm.