About Me
BORN AND GREW UP A SMALL TOWN GIRL IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY.
MY FATHER WAS BORN IN NOVA SCOTIA, LEFT AT 17 FOR NEW YORK CITY TO MAKE MONEY TO SEND HOME TO HIS WIDOWED MOTHER AND YOUNGER SIBLINGS. HE SLEPT IN CENTRAL PARK FOR MONTHS, AS DID A MULTITUDE OF OTHER CANADIANS AND THOSE LOOKING FOR WORK. AFTER FINDING A JOB HE WAS ABLE TO MOVE INTO A BOARDING HOUSE AND EVENTUALLY MET, WOOED, AND MARRIED MY MOTHER. SHE WAS ONE OF 13 KIDS, THE DAUGHTER OF A NYC POLICEMAN (THEY ONLY CARRIED NIGHTSTICKS BACK THEN) AND A FORMER BURLESQUE GIRL, STAGE NAME....DIAMOND FLO! THEY GOT MARRIED IN 1937, MOVED WEST TO CENTRAL NEW JERSEY AND HAD US THREE KIDS. WE LIVED PRETTY MUCH A 'HAPPY DAYS' LIFE AND AMAZINGLY SURVIVED OUR CHILDHOODS WITHOUT HELMETS, AS WE DRANK OUT OF HOSES, AND LEFT THE HOUSE AT 8 IN THE MORNING WITH SOME FRUIT OR A SANDWICH IN OUR POCKET ONLY TO RETURN FROM OUR ADVENTURES AROUND TOWN BY DINNERTIME. WE WALKED TO SCHOOL IN ALL KINDS OF WEATHER....SOMETIMES UPHILL BOTH WAYS IN A BLINDING BLIZZARD, LOL.
WHEN I GOT MARRIED IN 1966, IT WAS TO A BOY FROM THE NEXT SMALL TOWN OVER WHO WAS PUTTING HIMSELF THROUGH ENGINEERING COLLEGE ON A FULL SCHOLOARSHIP....HE GOT HIS MASTERS AT RUTGERS AND BECAME A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER. I HAD OUR SON IN '67 AND RETURNED TO SELLING REAL ESTATE PART-TIME EVENTUALLY DECIDING TO RUN FOR OUR REGIONAL SCHOOL BOARD....MY CLAIM TO FAME BEING THAT I STARTED THE FIRST STUDENT SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY IN 1976 AND WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS AND THEN PRESIDENT OF ONE OF THE FIRST ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL PROJECTS FOR KIDS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES IN THE STATE. MY INTEREST IN KIDS LEAD TO OUR MOVING INTO A YOUTH SHELTER SO I COULD BE A FULL-TIME HOUSE MOTHER...I HAD 250 KIDS OVER THE NEXT 2 1/2 YEARS, TALK ABOUT STRETCH-MARKS, BUT WHAT A WONDERFUL AND EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE THAT WAS.
BY 1980, DUE TO MY SON'S CHRONIC BRONCHIAL ASTHMA, WE LEFT NEW JERSEY TO GET TO A DRIER CLIMATE AND MOVED TO COLORADO SPRINGS. OUR DAUGHTER WAS BORN THERE IN THE SHADOW OF PIKE'S PEAK IN 1982. THREE YEARS LATER. I WAS SUDDENLY WIDOWED WITH A LITTLE ONE TO RAISE, MY SON WAS 19 BY THEN AND IN THE ARMY. I MOVED OUT TOWARDS DURANGO AND STARTED A SMALL CAFE HIGH IN THE ROCKIES AND WOULD PROBABLY STILL BE THERE IF MY MOTHER IN FLORIDA HADN'T BECOME ILL. SO WE PACKED UP AND MOVED TO THE GULF COAST TO BE NEAR HER. AS HER HEALTH DECLINED, I MOVED HER IN WITH US AND ENDED UP CARING FOR HER 24/7 OVER THE NEXT TWELVE YEARS AS SHE FOUGHT BUT SUCCOMBED TO ALZHEIMERS DISEASE. WE'VE GONE THROUGH A LOT, INCLUDING MY DAUGHTER HAVING HEALTH PROBLEMS NECESSATATING HOMESCHOOLING HER THROUGH 9th TO 11th GRADES, THEN STRESS CREATED SERIOUS HEALTH ISSUES FOR ME, AND THE TOPPER WAS ON FRIDAY THE 13TH, 2004, HURRICANE CHARLEY STRUCK OUR AREA TAKING OFF THE BACK SIDE OF OUR HOUSE WHICH PRECIPATATED OUR SELLING 'AS IS' AND MOVING TWICE BEFORE SETTLING HERE IN ORLANDO.....LIKE THE OLD SAYING GOES, "WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, MAKE LEMONADE".....I'VE MADE PITCHERS OF IT OVER THE YEARS, LOL.
LIFE DEFINITELY HAS CHANGED A LOT WITH EACH DECADE FOR ME AND NOW AT ALMOST 63, THINGS AREN'T AS SIMPLE OR EASY TO DO AS THEY ONCE WERE. "REGRETS, I'VE HAD A FEW" AS OL' BLUE EYES USED TO CROON BUT OVERALL I'D SAY IT'S BEEN A GOOD RIDE. NOW IF ONLY I COULD GET THIS OL' BOD A TUNE-UP, SUPERCHARGE MY ENGINE, AND ADD SOME NEW AND SPEEDY WHEELS, I THINK THAT THERE'S STILL A LOT MORE MILEAGE LEFT ON THIS OLD BROAD.....OR AT LEAST I HOPE SO.
