Getting To Know Me

You know something? This series of  'getting to know me' is allowing me to stop,

 think back and observe what the past was like in my life.

So, two more photos I have found. The first one is my family at 'half full'!

The second was 8 plus years later when the family was at it's max!

This photo above, I believe, would have been taken in the fall of 1952.

Bernard was the baby around 4 months old. He was the largest baby

and weighed 12.5 pounds.

It's looks like one of our Sundays excursions

 as we are all dressed up and in all likelihood

had been to church.

This was when there were 5 children: l to r in back me (4), Jo-Ann (6), Marilyn

with her head cut off (11).

In the front is baby Bernard, Dad (37) and Dennis (2).

Mom must have taken this photo. 

Oh yes, see those blazers

Jo-Ann, Marilyn and I are wearing? Mom made those. 

She was very good at sewing and I must say I remember

watching her make these. The piping along the pocket edges

and collars were very hard to do and I remember her frustration in getting it perfect!

The things one remembers.

So fast forward 8 years or so. Here I am holding a deck of cards (no idea why!)

with 'baby' Bernard to my left. In front is my youngest brother Laurie.

I can remember this time very well. There were 13 people living in our house including

my grandmother and uncle. It was close quarters to say the least. 

But we took it in stride.

The 'older boys' would always be getting into trouble....

that would be me, Dennis and Bernard.

Well, we would have been 12, 10 and 8 years old

and you know when you have that mix and gender

there was no way Mom could control us all of the time.

We would just be bad! Get all wound up and run all over the place screaming

 and waking up the baby and pushing Mom to the edge!

Mom would have to call Dad at work (he worked from 8 AM to 9 PM 

most days of the week) but he was home for lunch.

That was all we needed to shut us down! A call to Dad. 

He would either talk to me on the phone, as I was the oldest boy,

or he would come home. And that was never good!

There were so many of these good times when I was a kid.

How my parents managed to 'entertain' us all is beyond me.

But they did and I am forever thankful to them.