My grandmother was the second-to-the-last child in a huge Irish family. When her parents died, she and her husband, Doc, the optometrist, inherited the three story Victorian house with the wrap around porches. Along with the house came the bachelor uncles, the youngest of whom, Uncle Bernie, still lived there when I was a child. On Sundays when we got to our grandmother's, … [Read more...] about Uncle Bernie
Family
Remember the Darts?
There’s a favorite story in my family that's only three words long. Remember the darts? Everyone remembers, so we all have a laugh and enjoy the story without anybody needing to tell it. We had just hung up a kid-style dart board in the basement. The kind where the darts have rubber suctions cups on the end instead of lethal points. It had the usual concentric rings, … [Read more...] about Remember the Darts?
Our Dad
We sat at his feet in the living room and he quizzed us. Who made you? God made me. Why did God make you? God made me to know, love, and serve him in this world. Our dad. He was God’s stand-in, the head of our house. After the catechism, we moved to arithmetic. Then he read the newspaper. On Tuesdays he watched Combat! and on Wednesdays, The Gallant Men. Like … [Read more...] about Our Dad