Parallel Lives

The blog and booklet, The Linas in Troy Missouri, chronicles the life and times of my grandfather and how he got to where he was in 1952, the year he died.

Upon reflection, there are a lot of parallels between his life and mine.

My grandmother was short in stature, loving, caring, and independent;  and belonged to a womens' group. My wife is likewise and likewise belongs to a womens' group.

He and my grandmother had their three children within four years of marriage, so did we.

He left his pregnant wife with friends and family as a young man and set out to make his fortune in a new part of the world.  I left my pregnant wife with friends and family as a young man to make my fortune in a new part of the country.  We both were reunited with our families a short time after relocating.

Much later in life, when each of us was in our early fifties, we came to a point of transition; he was out of work and so was I.

To make the best of the situation each of us took a flyer on a business idea that was not our own, he the chicken and egg business and me the computer training business.  He didn't make it rich in his business and neither did I; we may both have bought into impossible business models.

He moved to a place strange to to him, Troy Missouri, and I moved similarly to Louisville Kentucky.

He settled into a house two miles off the main road out of town, down a winding road, across a railroad track, and around a bend in the road.  I did the same, two miles down a winding road, across a railroad track, and around a bend in the road.

At his railroad crossing there was a depot, at my railroad crossing there is a church; both of these are structures for arrivals and departures; one from Troy, the other from this world.

His three kids and their families visited him regularly and so do mine, every Christmas and we go there during the year.

So it goes.