Growing Up With Seven Parents
I have six beautiful grandchildren. All of them are girls. This is after my wife and I had four children€¦all boys.
I give you this background because it really explains how I started to write this book about growing up with 7 parents.
You see the girls keep asking about their great grandparents, my mom and dad, who died before most of the girls were born.
The girls started to be interested after I had told them this funny story about my mom, which happens to be one of my most embarrassing moments in my life.
You see, when I was thirteen (13) I really wanted a bicycle. I used to dream of owning a red Schwin bicycle with a red tank built into the body of the bike. My parents had no problem with my having a bicycle as long as I earned the money to pay for it. My mom and dad both worked which gets into how I acquired 7 parents while growing up.
Anyway back to my getting a bicycle. As I said my parents were very much in favor of my getting a bicycle as long as I earned the money to pay for it. My mom helped me get a job at the corner luncheonette waiting on tables and washing dishes. (She gave the owner her personal guarantee that I would not be a problem employee.)
The job was fun and during the lunch period it would get pretty hectic. Let me just add that I learned a lot about work and valued every penny that I made.
After six (6) months of contributing to the family funds my mom told me that I had enough money to buy the bike. WOW! I did not sleep that whole night thinking about where I was going to ride my very own bike.
The next day, I met my dad at his place of work, a Barber Shop on 52nd Street and 6th Avenue, so that we could go over to the department store to buy the bike. We purchased the bike and my dad paid for the tax which I did not count on. We took the bike on the subway up to 116th Street and then I rode the bike home to 119th Street. I finally got to live the dream, me and my Schwin bicycle. I felt like I was in heaven riding on a cloud.
As I mentioned above both my parents worked and the day after I purchased that beautiful red bicycle I figured out how I could leave school early and start to ride my bike around the neighborhood.
When I got home I was shocked to see my mother was there. She was surprised to see me, and then became angry after she saw that I was not ill. She asked me what I was doing home and I was speechless and terrified.
Now that was a bad enough scene. What came after was real embarrassment. My mom grabbed me by my left ear and proceeded to march me back to school. The school was four (4) city blocks from our house and we continued to walk all four blocks to the school entrance with my mom leading and still holding me by the left ear.
Once we were in school she led me into my classroom which was in full session. Still holding me by my ear she proceeded to lecture my teacher on allowing me to miss class. That is about all I remember of the details of what happened, yet I will never forget the
embarrassment and the feelings of shame I felt at the time.
Needless to say, I never left class early again.
Anyway I shared this and other experiences of my growing up with 7 parents with my granddaughters and they were not only interested and amused but also told some of the stories to their friends who would come back to me whenever I visited to hear more stories.
Well that is how it all started and now I will share the stories with you and hope that it amuses you as well.
P.S.: I have included 4 of my favorite recipes in my book, Growing Up with 7 Parents. (Mom's Chicken Cacciatore; Aunt Mary's Tiramisu; Aunt Rose's Linguini and Clam Sauce; and Grandma's BroccoliRabe and Sweet Italian Sausage with Orecchiette).
I give you this background because it really explains how I started to write this book about growing up with 7 parents.
You see the girls keep asking about their great grandparents, my mom and dad, who died before most of the girls were born.
The girls started to be interested after I had told them this funny story about my mom, which happens to be one of my most embarrassing moments in my life.
You see, when I was thirteen (13) I really wanted a bicycle. I used to dream of owning a red Schwin bicycle with a red tank built into the body of the bike. My parents had no problem with my having a bicycle as long as I earned the money to pay for it. My mom and dad both worked which gets into how I acquired 7 parents while growing up.
Anyway back to my getting a bicycle. As I said my parents were very much in favor of my getting a bicycle as long as I earned the money to pay for it. My mom helped me get a job at the corner luncheonette waiting on tables and washing dishes. (She gave the owner her personal guarantee that I would not be a problem employee.)
The job was fun and during the lunch period it would get pretty hectic. Let me just add that I learned a lot about work and valued every penny that I made.
After six (6) months of contributing to the family funds my mom told me that I had enough money to buy the bike. WOW! I did not sleep that whole night thinking about where I was going to ride my very own bike.
The next day, I met my dad at his place of work, a Barber Shop on 52nd Street and 6th Avenue, so that we could go over to the department store to buy the bike. We purchased the bike and my dad paid for the tax which I did not count on. We took the bike on the subway up to 116th Street and then I rode the bike home to 119th Street. I finally got to live the dream, me and my Schwin bicycle. I felt like I was in heaven riding on a cloud.
As I mentioned above both my parents worked and the day after I purchased that beautiful red bicycle I figured out how I could leave school early and start to ride my bike around the neighborhood.
When I got home I was shocked to see my mother was there. She was surprised to see me, and then became angry after she saw that I was not ill. She asked me what I was doing home and I was speechless and terrified.
Now that was a bad enough scene. What came after was real embarrassment. My mom grabbed me by my left ear and proceeded to march me back to school. The school was four (4) city blocks from our house and we continued to walk all four blocks to the school entrance with my mom leading and still holding me by the left ear.
Once we were in school she led me into my classroom which was in full session. Still holding me by my ear she proceeded to lecture my teacher on allowing me to miss class. That is about all I remember of the details of what happened, yet I will never forget the
embarrassment and the feelings of shame I felt at the time.
Needless to say, I never left class early again.
Anyway I shared this and other experiences of my growing up with 7 parents with my granddaughters and they were not only interested and amused but also told some of the stories to their friends who would come back to me whenever I visited to hear more stories.
Well that is how it all started and now I will share the stories with you and hope that it amuses you as well.
P.S.: I have included 4 of my favorite recipes in my book, Growing Up with 7 Parents. (Mom's Chicken Cacciatore; Aunt Mary's Tiramisu; Aunt Rose's Linguini and Clam Sauce; and Grandma's BroccoliRabe and Sweet Italian Sausage with Orecchiette).
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