My Story, TOO.1: Is There a Creative Power in Disintegration?

USA's Only Bahá'í House of Worship, in Wilmette

And now, Part III, and one of the initial springboards for My Story. Frank's other attraction to Chicago suburb Wilmette might be the on-going construction of an intriguing structure. Throughout the late-1920's, residents in Wilmette develop paranoid rumors and express displeasure with the site. With others' disdain of the structure, why is Frank instead drawn to live so close to it? It is located by the lake and just 2 miles from 423 Maple Avenue.

Because of the mid-1930s lingering hullabaloo, and his connections, maybe futuristic and ever successful, increasingly smug Frank gets a deal on the house. And maybe future plans are to flip the house for a profit, years later, when the hullabaloo subsides. He is a calculated risk-taker, but sadly, naive regarding the weakness in his heritage.

The nearby structure is the only United States Bahá'í House of Worship, and its size is impressive. At the time Frank moves to Wilmette with his family, it is still in progress. The ostentatious and ornate structure is eventually dedicated May 1953.

Frank's strategy lacks spiritual insight. He is more of an agnostic. So to him, one god, is like another god, is like another manifestation of god. Others' concern regarding the Bahá'í building might be seen as over-reacting. Within that building will be worship to the god Bahá'u'lláh. It will one day have symbols of many religions, such as the Christian cross, the Star of David, and the star and crescent. They will be found in each exterior pillar. The pillars will also be decorated with a symbol used by Hindus and Buddhists in the form of a swastika. At the top of each pillar a nine-pointed star, symbolizing the Bahá'í Faith will be prominent.

Inside the center of the dome ceiling, one will see an Arabic inscription. This is a Bahá'í symbol called the "Greatest Name"; the script translates as "O Thou Glory of Glories". The secretary of Shoghi Effendi writing on his behalf explained: By 'Greatest Name' is meant that Bahá'u'lláh has appeared in God's greatest name, in other words, that he [Bahá'u'lláh] is the supreme Manifestation of God.

Post-World War II

Bahá'u'lláh is only 2 miles away, and the plot thickens. Like a modern-day dramatic soap opera. Agnostic Frank's family experiences noteworthy tensions, with dark times ahead. In 1944, a decade after purchasing the Wilmette home, socialite Wife Hazel and their three children begin to feel emotionally abandoned.

Although family is important to Frank, the death of his father in 1939 provides the beginning seeds of a tail spin. World War II's official end September 1945 throws him into familiar territory. First, he is responsible for his brother mentally-challenged brother. Second, he remembers what it was like in World War I times and the whispers about Germans. His futuristic thinking again kicks in.

Frank's basic nature is to have his way. He believes that nested Hazel will bash his ideas. Freed of demanding work production and close paternal scrutiny, he has time and opportunity to dream again. Unlike Danish Hazel, Frank senses concern about tomorrow's uncertainties following World War II. Peace brings with it change, a decreased demand for springs, and the difficult choice of either a lower bottom-line profit or letting go of a loyal employee or two. And again, Germans will be looked down upon. Frank's moment of "now-and-not-yet" is staring him square in the face. And he does not handle it well.

Grandfather Frank's "regurgitated thoughts" bring up disturbing déja-vu. Doubled. A lifetime ago, both nightmares were shoved under the rug, but are forever etched: WWI's feelings of family shame are re-kindled; and, memories of Brother Freddy's many childhood outbursts* are re-ignited in Frank's home office. His normally quiet teen-age daughter Donna turned hormonal, with an ugly face-to-face confrontation that hit him hard: "Well then, just leave with her [the maid]. I hate you!"

Donna strongly resembles Frank's Mother. The names Donna and Anna are pronounced similarly, her brunette hair lightens with sun exposure, a petite height and frame, and a tendency to walk pigeon-toed, were all like Paternal Grandmother Anna. Donna's features, like her gangling arms, fine hair, and her pigeon-toed feet all bothered her. For a petite 5'2" height, a size 8 shoe seemed huge when compared to her friends' shoe sizes. What Donna saw in the mirror was like the image in an amusement park's curved mirror, disproportional and gawky. Even so, she was budding into a quiet and beautiful 16-year-old.

So that evening's outburst and ultimatum from Donna shocked Frank and hit him hard. After all of his years of hard work and providing amply for his family, Hazel and his daughter were aligned against him. In no way did it give Frank license to flee, that very middle of the night. Brooding Rescuer Frank could not fix the modern-day shame and disillusionment he created. After the fateful and heated father/daughter interaction, no closure occurs. Ever. And down-the-road legal situations make closure even more complicated, with residual effects that simmer.

Every aspect of Frank's life is tension-filled. Blinded and midlife aged 46 ½, he skips town in 1945, driving to less-populated Florida. Maybe to prepare for a potential famine, or a wave of American health-conscious thinking similar to his own health regimen. He wants to create and grow hybrid, earlier-producing, peach trees. And also escape the judgment of his social community. To fugue or run, escaping the ugly scandal he created. Heading towards a life make-over and do-over. He leaves behind everything familiar, except for one person who accompanies him. The family's long-time live-in maid. She is pregnant with his second son.

Frank's children and the maid know each other quite well. Maybe she accidentally feeds his mysterious ego, encouraging his futuristic hybrid ideas. Or, is it a fluke and comfortable attraction? (Frank's Mother was a washer-woman... a type of maid rather than a socialite.) Whatever the passive symbiosis, in 1945, Frank demonstrates the Weber family's first official and dramatic schism. His escape or fugue resembles a scolded dog with its tail between the legs that scampers far away.

Frank believes that in years to come his ideas and actions will be validated. He will still provide financially for his family. Hazel's brother Bub will manage his Chicago Accurate Springs Manufacturing Company, and maybe Frank's risky Florida business venture will provide extra needed money.

I swing forward with a segue, for perspective's sake. For just a moment, to the 2000's. In 2005, we were on the community-end of a fugue-type situation. A highly-respected father in our close-knit community unexpectedly disappeared overnight, leaving his wife and two children (one of my daughter's closest high school friends). The father's disappearance was on the local news, and for days we feared for his life. Ultimately he was found alive and somewhat well, except that to everyone's bewilderment it was discovered and reported on the news that he had a girlfriend and escaped to be with her, out-of-state. His family, my daughter's friend, had to face community whispers and embarrassment.

Because of the 2005 fugue that I personally witnessed, I understand the humiliation that my grandmother and my mother felt. Grandfather Frank's children (my mom was the oldest of the three) first experienced confusion. Then the sadness of loss. And then anger and the deep shame of public scandal. Donna even felt guilt, that maybe if she hadn't yelled at her father he wouldn't have left. My Mom believed that her father's mid-life escape was her fault.

Frank justifies that his family will be better off without him. His plan was for money to solve all hurts and shame. And long-distance and long-term financial grounding would be the main support his three still-fledgling children needed from him. Family counseling was not prevalent, so they dizzily floundered.

Sadly, Frank refused a redeeming faith. He was in flaming futuristic denial. He was a gifted entrepreneur, and a starter of ideas, but a weak maintainer. Legacy matters, and where shame and disintegration thrive, family bonds and outlandish mercy, from every direction, are dire. Simply stated, the family needed the strength of a Dad, but in their eyes his strength had disintegrated: "The strength of the pack is the wolf; and the strength of the wolf is the pack" (Jungle Book).