Mom & Dad

When my parents had me, they already had lots of kids.  But they like kids and wanted more.  I was born on a beautiful day in May.  My mom sat on the front step in the sunshine, waiting for my dad to get home from work so he could drive her to the hospital.  I was born at supper time; I wonder who made supper that night for the rest of my brothers and sisters?  

In my family, first came 2 girls, then 1boy, then1 girl, then 5 boys, then me, and then four boys after me. I had mostly my brothers around to play with.  I suppose that's why people call me a "tom-boy".  It can be hard for me to play with girls because I don't play the games right, or I hit the ball too hard, or something.  I asked my mom to get a sister for me next time, and she tried but I only got brothers.  That’s okay.

My dad is the oldest of 7 brothers.  He is the handsomest of all of them!  He's a hard worker at the Railway Station and starts work before I get home from school at 4, until midnight every day - except Wednesday and Thursday which is like his weekend.  When he's home, he likes to work in his garden, or read the Sunday papers.  He is really good at playing chess.  In the War he was a sailor; I saw his hat and his nametag in the basement.  He smokes, but I wish he didn't.  

His mom, my grandma, lives in the next town from ours.  She has a huge old house with rooms in the upstairs!  She calls all of us "my pet" and gives big hugs, and puts drops of perfume into the ashtrays so that they aren't stinky.  She doesn't smoke, but maybe she used to.  My grandpa died a month before I was born, so I never got a chance to see him.  I think I would have liked him, although I think he was quiet.  He worked on building roads.  My dad’s brothers all live far away, like in California or Sudbury or Montreal, so we don’t see them or our cousins very much. 

My mom is the oldest of 5 girls and 2 boys.  She likes to bake and to read, and to sew.  She’s always home for us, and the best is when we come in after school and she has been busy baking buns or cinnamon rolls and lets us have one when it is still warm!  She used to be a Figure Skater when she was young, and she would travel around to skate.  She met my dad that way – a lady told me that. 

Her mom and dad, my grandma and grandpa, live in Fort Frances and have a camp up the lake.  I just LOVE going up the lake.  You have to take a boat to get there.  My mom’s brothers and sisters also live far away so we don’t see them or our cousins very much, either.  One of my mom’s sisters was sick and died before I was born, so I never met her, but she's in heaven now.  

My mom's youngest sister, Louise-Anne, is about my oldest sisters age.  She is so fun; when she comes for a visit she always has a new joke for me.  When she visits, she sleeps on the couch that pulls out into a bed in the living room.  I sneak in, in the morning, and she tells me stories and more jokes!  I always like when she  visits.

It’s nice to have a big family.  Even if they are mad at you, even if they go away, they are still your family and they will help you if they can.