My Life
I was born in Worcester, Massachusetts the oldest of 7 children to two wonderful people who turned into parents because of me.
My folks moved from Worcester to Grafton, MA after hurricane Diane in August of 1955. There were 2 of us by now..me and my brother. This house and neighborhood is where I grew up. Lots of kids to play with and learn with. It was the 50’s and 60’s..always be home for supper, when street lights came on. Get home for homework, tub and bed.
In July 1963 we moved to another street in Grafton. A long winding, narrow street with very few houses. I remember my folks forgot my kid sister, still playing at a neighbors when we drove away…By now there are 4 of us, two girls and two boys. This was a lonely street for me, but now I was a ‘teenager’ starting junior high school in September. A new adventure and boy was it! I went from an eight room, 24 kids to a class elementary school to a building busting with kids. Now all sections of town are in one school building. All of a sudden Grafton became a very large town to me (not really total population maybe 7500) At age 14, Church dances, bowling, tennis, belonging and hanging out was the thing. At 14 I met a guy, who 7 years later would be my husband. But I lived a lot in those 7 years.
The Grafton Plaza consisting of a bowling ally, bank, supermarket, hairdressers, military recruiting office and the Mart employed nearly every teenager in town as we became old enough. I chose the supermarket and thru the school years I learned to work in every department. There I made wonderful friends that lasted on and off thru my college years. They always took me by back after I failed at Avon, Princess House, Home Interior & Gifts and a number of placement jobs thru Kelly Staffing.
During my years in high school and working at the supermarket, mom and dad added three more girls to our family. We are now a total of 7 kids. Comradery and cooperation in a large family leads to a loving bond that lasts a lifetime. I loved going to the beach with the family, water skiing behind dad’s 12 foot wooden boat and working in the kitchen beside my mom. Carting the kids from one activity to another kept me included in their science fairs, school plays and little league. So when I bought a car and took a full time job I was a little missed at home!
On this pivotal day in April 1971, my dad asked me to pitch- in and man a hot dog stand at the little league parade (that’s a big deal every year) so I did.
Low and behold in strolled this guy who I loved to dance with and missed at most of those church dances when I was 14. He was one year older than me, so we just barely missed one another daily at school. He was there at the park picking up his kid brother. He looked good! He was a Navy man. I looked greasy and smeared with mustard, it mattered! This is a story that took all summer to unfold and bring to a BOIL then I missed a call at work one day when I was out to lunch.
Fri, Oct 30, 1971: He called my office ‘collect’ from his base in Vallejo, CA…the girls in the office were so excited and giddy and hanging on me when I called him back.
He said “if you marry me I’ll be home on Tuesday (11-3) and we can have whatever ceremony you can put together, but I need to report to my new base by November 12th. There was a religious difference in our up bringing that needed to be resolved and only these few days to do so… His new base was Pearl Harbor Hawaii…I heard Pearl Harbor and freaked…they drop bombs there! My head was spinning..I couldn’t talk I couldn’t think!! I needed to go home and talk with mom, I promised I’d call him back at 8:30, and that’s when I said yes
On Monday I went to work and quit my job and invited everyone to the wedding. When he got home on Tues, I had my gown, head-dress, flowers, my maids dresses, his church for Saturday the 6th and 87 people invited by our moms calling everyone on the telephone and the Pillar room at the DriftWood Motor Lodge serving Hawaiian Chicken and rice for dinner with music by a 5 piece pallor band. His tux as well as those for his entourage was handled by my bridal boutique. Nerves aside, the minister’s wife called his mom and informed her there could be NO wedding on the 6th…it was their major fund raiser…the Fall Fair…at that call we changed everything to the 7th…the moms hit the phones again re-inviting family and friends and I changed flower delivery and the function at the DriftWood…piece of cake! That was more than 53 years ago. It’s a great story to tell, but it was also what my husband learned about the girl he was about to marry and what she could accomplish when her heart and all those that loved her backed her up!
He made it back to his new base by the 12th and I joyed him on December 4th. Hawaii is a beautiful place to honey moon, but not on military pay! We were there many months..After my diagnosis of MS, having children was put off for a few years. So I built a career in accounting and we saved to buy a house. The MS only bothered me around the times I was pregnant, but never again in all these years. We had two beautiful children. A boy and a girl. Life races by in a blink of an eye…it’s now 1997 and I have my 16 year son in a bed at home with a fractured back and multiple bruises from an auto accident with home health aids and a school tutor and my husband in another bed at home with a broken leg, a twisted back and multiple body bruises from being hit and downed by a fallen tree at work. My solace was writing my imagination into the beginning of a book sitting at my computer doing anything but numbers. After about 47 pages of my book the family is healed and we are all back to work and school and the book rests in the computer for the next 23 years. Like I said, a blink of the eye and now we are in the mist of a pandemic like the world hasn’t experienced only once or twice in 200 years.
Life is still interesting but the book becomes the center of my attention as my son is gone, died in 2010 and my daughter lives 12 miles away with her son and family.
THE BOOK takes on a life of its own. A rewrite of the first 47 pages and the pandemic dissipates while I sit at my computer concocting a story that even blows my mind! In December 2020 it’s printed and in January 2021 it is released.
I am now 75 years old, 98% retired, working in my home office as needed. This is my casino money. The beach and the casino are my favorite past times. Except now, in December 2024, I have two handsome grandsons who are the new center of my life!
I thank my family and my husband and God for the exceptional life that we’ve shared together.