The last two days I have not written mainly because it was my birthday on the 27th. I was born in Rochester, New York at 12:32 a.m. and weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. My daughter swept me away to her house where she fed me, took me to movies and played computer games with me with her son. I had a great time enjoyed every second! I love her music.

Let me see, oh yes, my family. Don’t get me wrong, my family was not a TV program called Father Knows Best, or The Brady Bunch. At times it could have been The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. My grandmother’s, uncles ,cousins, and aunts were like The Wild Bunch. Things were never boring. My mother’s mother would come to the house and my father would just be very very quiet. Seems like he knew that what was ever said would get back to my mother. This usually caused problems in talking with my grandmother. One could tell how alone she was, always talking (i.e. complaining) about the way things should be with this world. Essentially it was just the way she was.

My other grandmother ( father’s mother) was just full of life. She used to work at Taylor’s. She worked their many years and I will never forget the Christmas parties put on by Taylor. They were fabulous! Thousands of people were there and all the children saw Santa Claus and got a gift. I don’t think companies do that anymore. She was very kind to us; playing games in the backyard and playing more games in the house. She was very honest and caring.

Now on the other hand was Uncle Sylvester. At times going to their house by the bay was quite the trip for my father. This man was always drunk! Whether it was 8:00 in the morning, 11:00 am in the morning or 3:00 in the afternoon, even in his condition, he loved to fish. Seems like that’s all he did besides watch television. I can remember my father watching him take two of his sons out on the 10 foot boat to go fishing. He then stood up and tipped the boat over. O my God I’ve never seen my father move that fast in his life as he ran down the dock and jumped into the water saved his two kids but left Sylvester for his own. I know my father was saying he has two choices he can drink the lake or he can get out by himself.

Let’s just say no one died.

Then there was my mother’s brother Uncle Leon. In my short life this had to be the funniest individual I have ever run in to. He was in the service for 30 years. He loved his wife and his kids. His family used to always make myself and my brothers and sister laugh out loud. He would stand as straight as a pin and point his finger at all of us, “Someone is gunna see you!” We never understood what that meant till it was early morning and my brothers and I had gotten up to get breakfast. We had opened up the refrigerator and had seen a 3 x 3 picture of an eye that he had placed in the icebox. He stood at the corner of the kitchen and living room shouting the words, “GOT YA!”

We never opened the refrigerator without our mother’s permission again. We loved him. Unfortunately being in the service he was always gone and again he left.

I can remember when my father went on strike from work. Things were very rough around the house. No food, no food, and no food. If I remember correctly he was on strike for over six weeks. He had to borrow money to feed us. I can remember having chicken egg noodle soup for breakfast lunch and dinner for about five weeks.

My aunt Arlene and Gil had three kids Sandy, Gale, Patty. Sandy and Patty would always play with my sister, but Gail would play with the guys. You could say she was a tomboy and she loved it.

My aunt Arlene and Gil were like oil and water. He would get mad and beat her, I did not care for that individual at all. Thank God she left him and she is truly with an individual who absolutely loves the ground she walks on. I am so happy for her. I can remember Christmas time at their house. They lived in a third floor apartment in Rochester. It was the greatest of times someone would yell Santa Claus is in the hallway and when all the kids want to see if Santa Claus was there Christmas gifts appeared under the tree. To be honest, I think the parents locked us out of the apartment for about three or four minutes.. The other thing I remember is the five tons of angel hair on my aunt Arlene’s tree. We would hardly ever go over to my Aunt Tilly’s house. It seems like she always came to our house. They lived in a very poor part of Rochester. They lived by the Rochester Red Wings ballpark. Her kids were Don, Bobby and Gary. We had lots of fun with them playing baseball and kickball.

My Aunt Lula lived by the beach. I will never forget my Aunt Lula. Her first husband’s name was Earl. My God did he scare me. He never taught his kids how to play baseball ,kickball ,soccer, or fish. All he would do is come home from work and get drunk. That’s all he ever did. I didn’t like him at all either. We very rarely saw them at all. They used to live next to a big ballpark. Everyone used to go play in the park without him. One thing I will never forget is my brother hitting a long fly ball to the outfield and my father was running running and jumping to catch the ball unfortunately he had a cigar in his mouth he crashed while catching the ball and rolled on the ground. I don’t remember ever seeing my father move that fast.

Here is the best one: Where did his cigar go? No one could find it. We looked and looked for it. No one could find it. I can also remember our dog and cat. Maybe some day I will talk about them.

There was something special about our mother’s sisters. My aunt Arlene ,Tilley ,and Lula. They were all fabulous mothers to great care of their kids. So get this, their maiden name was Doolittle. That’s right! When I was about 11 or 12 years old my mother showed me a picture of her and her sisters with a general James H. Doolittle. Remember him ?  In April of 1942, when he was a lieutenant colonel he pulled off the biggest raid on Japan that World War II had seen (30 seconds over Tokyo). They took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet and only had enough fuel to make it to China. They then abandoned their planes and hitched a ride back to the nearest US base.

My mother and aunt’s had the right stuff. They cared they loved and they cherished each other for better or worse. Every thing that happened in my family has given me an amazing life.

I can only say thank you with my heart.