The Life of a Story in Progress XVIII: My Family of Origin

My parents met when they were young; my mother was 18 years old and my father was 21. They were married in 1954 and I was their first child, born in 1955.

My mother left school after completing the 8th grade. She never mentioned any particular reason for this other than to say that she then got a job and worked for a short period of time. This would be the first and only time she worked outside the home. If you're wondering what she did for the next 3 years before meeting my father, so am I. I don't think she got a job at the age of 15, so there's something not quite right about her recollection of those years between 1949 and 1954. There's a gap there.

I'm sure there was no shortage of things to do at home, she had 9 sisters and 3 brothers (one sister named Alice died at the age of 14) so it was a large family. She was the youngest, so there were always older siblings around to help out around the house, leaving more questions as to what she did for those intervening years between school and marriage.

My father was also the youngest in his family. He had 2 brothers and a sister. His sister also died at the age of 14. Her name was Jeanne. My father went to Assumption College. How his family could afford this is unknown. They were quite poor. None of his other siblings went to college.

After my parents were married, they honeymooned in New York city. There are plenty of photos of them on top of the Empire State Building and at other locations in NYC. I don't know where they lived for the first year of their marriage. The next step in the timeline that I know of is the time of my birth after which my father got a job at the Tupper Plastics Factory for 3 months to pay the hospital bill.


 At some point soon thereafter, my father joined the Air Force. He is sent to Korea and my mother moved back into her parent's house while he was a way. Upon his return, they moved to Manchester, NH. There's absolutely no reason for this that I know of.  In any case, in 1956 the three of us lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts for a time and then moved to North Truo, on Cape Cod. In 1958, my brother Ron was born and in 1960, my sister Carol was born.

At this time, my father is transferred to Japan. My sister is about 2 years old at this time. While my father is away, my mother shows his picture to my sister every day so that "she'll remember what he looks like." According to my mother, this works and my sister recognizes my father when he returns a year or so later. I have doubts. During this time, I have started school and attend first grade in South Grafton, MA.

My brother Ron had the unfortunate circumstance of being the second born son. My parent's were not prepared for me and reportedly, I was a handful. So by the time my brother is born, they have a better grasp on parenthood and I don't think he got away with much of the shenanigans that I put them through. For the next 12 years, there are three children and the three of us grow up together in the first chapter of the family history.

Ten years after my sister's birth in  1960, my brother Wayne is born. He's on his own, not having siblings in his age group. In fact, it would only be a year later that I move out of the house. Nine years after Wayne is born in 1970, my sister Norma is born. She is born one year after my first daughter is born, making her younger than her niece.

The family is now complete with 5 children.