My Daddy, the man who raised me, loved me while he navigated a world that was rapidly spinning out of control. He’d survived his parents’ divorce, the death of his mother and sister, and a new home with his father’s sister – a gal named Ann who we all called Aunt Mike. Daddy serve in… Continue reading Daddy
Category: Then
1935 Part 2
My (adopted) mother was born at the end of 1935, the last of 7 children as was my biological mother. Her parents, first cousins, married at 13 and 21, I believe. They left the destitute farmland of northeastern North Carolina to head to the urban squalor of Portsmouth, Virginia where my grandfather found work in… Continue reading 1935 Part 2
1935 part 1
My biological father and adoptive mother were born in October and December of 1935, respectively. This was the heart of the Depression and both were born to brutally poor parents in the South. My mother would go on to live a life of priviledge, my father would never see his 38th birthday. Each gave me… Continue reading 1935 part 1
1932
My birthmother was born within a day of 4 years after my Daddy. Just the thought of her shaped my life possibly more than anyone (arguable). An invisible force in my childhood with an abusive mother, I could imagine her to be anything – but mostly I though of her as someone who would one… Continue reading 1932
1928
Today I am 60 – and what’s surprising is that of all these “milestone birthdays”, this one feels like I’ve crossed a bridge from which I cannot return. As if the past has shattered into the river beneath and now there is only the road ahead and my memories of what’s been left behind. So… Continue reading 1928
Last of the 50’s
Tomorrow, I turn 60. I’ve been saying I’m older than I am for years. I never understood why women lie about their age the other direction. If you are 55 and you look 45, and you say you’re 60, well that’s a bigger win in my mind. I’m lucky (and unlucky) to have hit menopause… Continue reading Last of the 50’s