{"id":167,"date":"2004-01-26T16:20:53","date_gmt":"2004-01-27T00:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/?p=167"},"modified":"2006-10-20T21:26:39","modified_gmt":"2006-10-21T01:26:39","slug":"a-very-brief-history-of-frank-canning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/2004\/01\/26\/a-very-brief-history-of-frank-canning\/","title":{"rendered":"A (Very) Brief History of Frank Canning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"frank_sm.jpg\"
\nDiane and I have morphed into rigid ritualists. Not only do we brush our teeth everyday, shower every time we walk by the bathroom, and obsessively check our email, we also eat dinner Friday nights at the Sushi House and breakfast most Sundays at a local diner. Last Friday we were already seated when Dan joined us. He slid in next to Diane and when the waitress came by he smiled, pointed at Diane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chardonnay, and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have one of those.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Then, with his arms crossed, he looked at Diane and asked,<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So what was your relationship like with your father?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Diane hesitated, missed half a beat and replied,<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was good. I loved my father. He was smart and funny. A wry kind of funny.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You mean like Susan?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, more like….Matthew.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he give you math problems at the dinner table?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He could have.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Diane looked across the table at me as if I would have the answer. I thought, maybe Uncle Bill, but not Frank.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We did have political discussions at the table. He loved debate. But my mother didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it all, she would get up and do the dishes. His relationship with Susan was sharp; he sparred with her, but with me, he was softer. Tickled me, and when we were driving he would reach over and slap my knee. Like Michael does now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Dan looked my way.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So you knew Frank?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh yeah. We went down to New City a lot. But I mostly knew his death, not his life. I was there once or twice before we found out about his cancer. I remember dinner on Scott Drive, when we argued about Macrobiotics. He said people died eating that way; I thought kinda narrow of you to choose a worst case example. Maybe he was testing to see if I could spar as well as Susan. Well, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Anyway, it was an embarrassing way to start a relationship. For me. I remember very early in his illness, he cooked lamb on the grill. A meal I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d heard so much about from Diane, but this time, one he overcooked. I saw mostly the frail Frank, not the Frank of legend. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n

Dan turned back to Diane.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Did he visit you in Somerville when you were living with Michael?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No. He helped me move, but he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come back. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think he approved of the apartment, he thought it needed work. He wanted to paint it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Did he say anything about your living situation?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, he was a liberal. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say that we were living in sin, or anything like that. Like my mother. Remember, Michael, when I slipped and told Flo I was living with you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She said, \u00c3\u00abI think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time you come back home.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He was…a liberal? Dan seemed surprised. <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes, on social issues.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Looking at Wolfman and Girlfriend I can see why Emerson was upset about my choice of friends. I might feel the same way now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Emerson must have been upset when you left Raytheon,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I offered.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He was stunned. Couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What work did Frank do?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Worked for Bell Tel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Was he an engineer?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Started as an engineer, but he moved up to management.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And his father?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Worked for Bell Tel too.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

And that was the end of the conversation. No closed loops, only a new topic- Dan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s diet – to take its place. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what Diane was thinking as she answered Dan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s questions, but it made me sad. I miss Frank because of what I know about his relationship wth Diane, Susan, and Patti. He loved them in a way that a parent should love his children- unequivocally. There were his daughters and then there was everyone else. I wished Matthew could have experienced that love from this playful grandfather. And I wish that Frank had known Matthew. He would finally have found another soul in the family to spar with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diane and I have morphed into rigid ritualists. Not only do we brush our teeth everyday, shower every time we walk by the bathroom, and obsessively check our email, we also eat dinner Friday nights at the Sushi House and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}