...As you can see by now, I do have a rather large family, which means I have the daunting task of introducing them, one by one...bringing them to life, through my insights and memories from long ago to present day...I thought I would start off with my 5 sisters...each of them equally an important part of my life...and they can equally identify all of the good times and the bad...that has somehow transpired so quickly as time marches on...I imagine we can all go back 40 years as if it were yesterday...and remember so many of those cherished times which was the Camelot era for us all...So here we go...From oldest to youngest...
...Maureen........Maureen was the oldest and probably the boldest of all my sisters...She was always a bundle of energy and always out front conquering new worlds for each and everyone of us to follow...She was the one entrusted with holding me in her arms as my Dad sped furiously, thru every red light from Christ Hospital up to Childrens Memorial Hospital when I was only a few weeks old...She would later on be the person who taught me to read and even farther down the road...be the person who talked me into going to DePaul University...We had so, so many good times throughout our lives...and it would be hard to not go on and on...about some of those special moments...Maybe later...
...Patsy........Patsy was the artstic and very smart sister who was very gifted and also equally loving...I can remember spending an entire summer in a body cast in the hospital and Patsy would come every day and play Crazy Eights with me while my Mom would sneak off and get a nap out in the car...She would do some very funny things like making a giant, 6 foot, Easter Bunny out of snow in the backyard up in Williams Bay too...I think I still have a picture of that somewhere...Throughout my life...Patsy was always intensively searching for medical ways to enhance my life...and you can't ask much more than that...
...Kathy.....Kathy was far and away the most humorous one of my sisters...She just always had a fuuny way of looking at things...and my Mom would always say that me and Kathy had the Burke sense of humor...something from her Mother's side...Kathy would take me up to the Tastee Freeze for an ice cream cone, then take me back to the swings at Carroll Park...She had a very, child-like personality, that would come out whenever we would have a blast running around the Park, and it was always kind of sad to have to walk back home...at the end of the day...Kathy was very much a free spirit and in her own right...and she continues to inspire me to this very day...
...Joan......Joanie was a great deal of fun who was always cooking up her famous mostocholli for me all the time...I've never seen anyone on Earth who can type as fast as her...Throughout my life she has always been one of my most trusted, dearest companions...I can still remember being at her wedding reception and crying because I knew I was losing another sister from the house and it was never going to be the same again...We shared so many fun times together, whether it was going down the huge slide by her apartment in Chicago Ridge or just hanging out with her at the end of the day, when she was a teenager, while she was rolling her curlers into her long, long hair, eating cheez whiz and crackers, laughing away...Life would just not be the same without her wonderful smile and her gift for gab...
...Karen.....Karen was my youngest sister and she was also so much fun to be around growing up...I can remember her dressed up in her Saint Ignatious Cheerleading outfit and doing cartwheels back and forth thru the center of the living room...Later on, I'd always notice the latest paperback novels she would be reading...Jaws, The Exorcist, The Godfather...In her own way, she was on the cutting edge, of what was going on, during the 60's and 70's...She had a very eclectic style...She was a wizard with a sewing machine and I can still remember her stapling new fabric over our old sofas up at the Lake...that lasted over 10 years...Of course, I mostly appreciate her being by my side in the early 90's during my hospital stay up in Minneapolis...when I was in the midst of rattling off 5 surgeries in 6 months...I'm absolutely certain there will be more good stories about Karen to come in the following pages...so stay tuned...
...Of course...you all have to realize that my sisters mean more to me than the few paragrahs that I've pieced together...I'm sure we will cover much more ground as these memoirs roll forward...I just can't say them all, or this fun journey would come to an abrupt halt...All in all, I was very lucky to have so many sisters...all five of them...to be a very important part of my ever changing world...and I hope these memoirs leave an indelible mark...in the inscriptions of time of the life and times of Jim O'Leary and the special people...my sisters...who meant so much to me...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Strong Influence of Music in my Life
...The strong influence of music in my life...is probably worth sharing...because it strands across 4 decades...My earliest musical memories go back to the 60's when my sister Kathy worked at Lowe's Record Shop in the Evergreen Plaza...She would come home with some of the hottest sounds that were so rampantly popular at that time...The Beach Boys, The Supremes, The Doors and on and on and on...She had this funky little record player that would unfold two big speakers...which was ultra-modern at the time...For some reason...I always remember her being the one stuck with mopping the basement floor with MopN'Glo and cranking up her music player while she sped around mopping as fast as she could...Later on...I can remember my sister Karen owning one of the first cassette recorders...I remember she had a Simon & Garfunkel cassette and either a Carole King or Carly Simon cassette tape also...Then, there was my brother Joe...who came home from college at Notre Dame with a huge album collection...He really had a wild assortment of heavy duty rock n' roll including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, Mountain and Elf....This is around 1971-72...I'm guessing...Then I also can remember taking my brother Danny's...Bob Segar Live album...to a party at my buddy Slim's house and never bringing it back...I hope he doesn't remember that...Of course...then there was my initial album collection which was something like Styx, UFO, ELO and George Thoroughgood and The Destroyers...Eventually, I basically had a gigantic collection of cassettes also which I recorded from my friends albums or live tracks they would play on FM radio...Looking...Way back, of course, AM radio reigned supreme as Top 40 radio was at its peak...There was WLS, WCFL, WIND mostly but all those musical AM stations would fade from our culture as FM stations became the craze...WXRT and WLUP were huge then and still even remain going strong today...
...There are so many songs...that instantly take me back in time...to those golden moments...in my early youth...I can actually remember listening to the last Beatles album at my friend, Eddy Bar's house...and just thought it was sad...that they had decide to break up...As I got to college at DePaul...I can remember coming back to my dorm room after an intensive accounting exam and just cranking up The Who at full blast...I could basically go on and on...and I'm sure as the pages roll on throughout my memoirs...I'll be sharing other musical moments that are just frozen solid, opening a lost passage in time...taking both me and you backwards to a time long ago...when these songs were such an important part of our lives...
...There are so many songs...that instantly take me back in time...to those golden moments...in my early youth...I can actually remember listening to the last Beatles album at my friend, Eddy Bar's house...and just thought it was sad...that they had decide to break up...As I got to college at DePaul...I can remember coming back to my dorm room after an intensive accounting exam and just cranking up The Who at full blast...I could basically go on and on...and I'm sure as the pages roll on throughout my memoirs...I'll be sharing other musical moments that are just frozen solid, opening a lost passage in time...taking both me and you backwards to a time long ago...when these songs were such an important part of our lives...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Legend of the Wet, Wet Pee Rag
...The Legend of the Wet, Wet Pee Rag...While its origin remains fuzzy...the legend lives on...On an average night in which my sisters were entrusted with caring for me while my parents went out for the evening...One of them was changing my diaper and tossed it at one of my other sisters...and it landed in her lap...and then all chaos broke loose...Soon they were running around the house chasing each other...throwing the wet, wet pee rag at each other...
...It soon took off and became a staple of fun things to do while my parents were away...
...Of course...I can only remember it...long after I was out of diapers...The game had evolved from using a stinky diaper...to soaking a big towel until it weighed a ton...then racing around the house pelting one another...which caused them to squeel out in fear as someone zeroed in on them as they became trapped and faced a sloppy, drenching blow to the face which would only intensify the game to another level....
...If the wet, wet pee rag was not totally soaked...they would run to the faucet to re-load...and try to catch their breath...It was an all-out melee that did not end until all parties were totally exhausted...
...There was never, ever a clear-cut winner or loser...It was just kids having fun, running wild, coming close to demolishing quite a few knick-knacks...It was probably the cheapest way to liven up a boring babysitting session...And I just don't know how they all managed to clean up all the wet spots from hurling the rag all over the house....
...Even the sanctity of the off-limits, living room...was fair game...It would kareem off my Dad's ottomon or just slam hard against the wall, steps away in the dining room...It was a pure adrenaline rush for one and all...
...I just can't imagine what would have happened if my Mom and Dad had somehow come home early...and seen all of this go down...
...It soon took off and became a staple of fun things to do while my parents were away...
...Of course...I can only remember it...long after I was out of diapers...The game had evolved from using a stinky diaper...to soaking a big towel until it weighed a ton...then racing around the house pelting one another...which caused them to squeel out in fear as someone zeroed in on them as they became trapped and faced a sloppy, drenching blow to the face which would only intensify the game to another level....
...If the wet, wet pee rag was not totally soaked...they would run to the faucet to re-load...and try to catch their breath...It was an all-out melee that did not end until all parties were totally exhausted...
...There was never, ever a clear-cut winner or loser...It was just kids having fun, running wild, coming close to demolishing quite a few knick-knacks...It was probably the cheapest way to liven up a boring babysitting session...And I just don't know how they all managed to clean up all the wet spots from hurling the rag all over the house....
...Even the sanctity of the off-limits, living room...was fair game...It would kareem off my Dad's ottomon or just slam hard against the wall, steps away in the dining room...It was a pure adrenaline rush for one and all...
...I just can't imagine what would have happened if my Mom and Dad had somehow come home early...and seen all of this go down...
Monday, July 28, 2008
...The Infamous Knollwood Moment...I don't think it would take long for my family members to instantly recall where they were standing when this incident took place...It remains a controversey that remains unsolved to this day...One bright sunny, summer morning...my two brothers went outside to play...Most of us, were inside just waking up...my Mom was probably frying up some bacon and eggs and my Dad had just set out to begin his morning shaving routine...As my Dad lathered on his shaving cream...he noticed his two boys crawling into our station wagon...from the side window in the bathroom...I imagine my Dad felt everything was normal as my brothers slid into the front seat and started to wrestle...
...Suddenly...the vehicle...which was perched up at the top of the hill...jerked forward...and started rolling slowly down the hill...Obviously, someone had accidentally jostled the gear shift forward and from that moment on...it was as they say....all downhill...As the station wagon began to descend...it began to pick up speed...It hit a bump...and my brother Danny...hurtled backward into the back seat...
...Meanwhile...my Dad is watching this all unfold as he gets half-way through shaving his face...To his amazement...the family vehicle...was not only picking up speed as it rolled down the hill...but it was heading straight towards a huge oak tree...He immediately flew out the door and began chasing after the vehicle, trying to somehow stop its progress...Here he was...half-way dressed, with half of his face covered in shaving cream...yelling at his boys...Joe and Danny...as the station wagon rolled further and further...down the hill...
...SMASH....!!!!
...As the vehicle slid violently into the tree...all my Dad could do was watch in horror...He ran up to the vehicle and threw open the door and screamed at both of the boys...Who did this...!!!
...Both of my brothers pointed at each other...frightened to death...and yelled out...He did it...!!!
...My Dad was certainly glad no one was hurt but the front end of the station wagon had sustained significant damage...
...Here we are...some 40 years later...and we still do not know...who hit the gear shift and sent the station wagon tumbling down the hill...
My guess...is that neither of my brother knows who actually accidentally nudged the gear shift...but it will forever remain the biggest unsoved mystery in the annals of O'Leary history.
...Suddenly...the vehicle...which was perched up at the top of the hill...jerked forward...and started rolling slowly down the hill...Obviously, someone had accidentally jostled the gear shift forward and from that moment on...it was as they say....all downhill...As the station wagon began to descend...it began to pick up speed...It hit a bump...and my brother Danny...hurtled backward into the back seat...
...Meanwhile...my Dad is watching this all unfold as he gets half-way through shaving his face...To his amazement...the family vehicle...was not only picking up speed as it rolled down the hill...but it was heading straight towards a huge oak tree...He immediately flew out the door and began chasing after the vehicle, trying to somehow stop its progress...Here he was...half-way dressed, with half of his face covered in shaving cream...yelling at his boys...Joe and Danny...as the station wagon rolled further and further...down the hill...
...SMASH....!!!!
...As the vehicle slid violently into the tree...all my Dad could do was watch in horror...He ran up to the vehicle and threw open the door and screamed at both of the boys...Who did this...!!!
...Both of my brothers pointed at each other...frightened to death...and yelled out...He did it...!!!
...My Dad was certainly glad no one was hurt but the front end of the station wagon had sustained significant damage...
...Here we are...some 40 years later...and we still do not know...who hit the gear shift and sent the station wagon tumbling down the hill...
My guess...is that neither of my brother knows who actually accidentally nudged the gear shift...but it will forever remain the biggest unsoved mystery in the annals of O'Leary history.
...And it was always hilarious as we all came together to have dinner...We were all crunched next to each other, elbow to elbow...My Mom would literally throw all the food down on the table as fast as she could because my Dad had this thing about eating anything cold...We had a lazy suzan in the middle of the table which is like a spinning wheel where all the various entrees could be spun around in every direction...Unfortunately, many times someone would reach out to grab something and tip over their full glass of milk...Ugggh...My Mom would scurry off to grab a towel while my father just would be shaking his head because this would happen so often...As the meal ensued...I usually did my best to not eat anything on my plate...I probably had spent the day eating candy which was my main source of nutrition...I thought I was James Bond who was hiding my peas in my mashed potatoes and pretending to take a bite of meat while sliding it under my plate...hidden safely away...and allowing me to bolt from the table...
...After dinner...the girls would help do the dishes...no dishwashing machines back then...My Mother and Father would settle down in their kitchen chairs next to each other at the table and my Mom would serve up a cup of tea and some Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies...They seemed to enjoy these tasty new treats and there were so many other special desserts they would share together...since my Mom absolutely loved her desserts so, so much...I think both of their favorites were the Dresselers Chocolate Eclairs which absolutely melted in your mouth...
...I would probably be down in the basement by then...watching Hogans Heroes or Dick Van Dyke...and I would jump around bouncing a basketball or wait for my brothers to take out their hockey sticks...and watch with excitement as they went hard at each other...trying to score a goal at either end of the basement...Of course, the tile floor took quite a beating and every weekend one of my sisters would be left with the task of throwing down a layer of liquid MopN'Glo...which glazed over the rough spots and allowed the tile to look brand new...
They were very tranquil, busy times in all of our lives...All of my sisters had boyfriends, of course...And it seemed like they all showed up in 15 intervals apart on every weekend night...to pick them up for the evening and take them out to the various hang-outs...which were so popular for teenagers...My brothers were still at an age where they enjoyed beating each other up...and endlessly trying to beat one another in any type of competiton available...Me...I just kind of wandered about and let it all sink in...I really had no clue that anything was out of the ordinary...We were just a huge family of 10 people and that wasn't uncommon in our neighborhood which was just exploding with kids of all ages...everywhere...
...It was the 1960's...the South-Side of Chicago...in the parish of Saint Thomas More...You really couldn't have found a better slice of middle-class Americana in the houses and streets and alley-ways of this very proud neighborhood...We resided at 2724 West 86th Street...in the newer section of our area...We had only moved 4 blocks away 5 years back to accommodate our growing family...My Dad had bought 2 vehicles for the family...Usually, he'd like to pick out a Buick LeSabre as our luxury vehicle and something along the lines of a Chevy Impala Station Wagon for the family to all pile into for road trips...
...And as you can imagine...by now...the main destination of our road trips was up to our cottage in Knollwood in Lake Geneva...We'd all pile into the station wagon...with all kinds of clothes stuffed into these 2 giant Polish barrels that was thrown into the back where my brothers were seated...looking out at the traffic following us in the back window...They thought they were pretty slick by throwing candy out the back window as we sped along and watch it disintegrate into the fast moving pavement below...My sisters were like living saints all squished together in the back seat...And of course, my Dad was behind the wheel with my Mom beside him with me in her lap...
...The funny thing is that we would get about 5-10 minutes into our 2 hour trip up to Wisconsin and one of the kids would always yell out...Are we there...yet..!!!...My Dad would just try to hold in his temper while my Mom would pat his shoulder and respond to anyone in back that they should just try to relax because we had a long, long way to go...Eventually, we would find our way to the Illinois/Wisconsin border and everyone would roll down their window and breathe in the fresh air...It was somewhat intoxicating...the fresh, smog-free air...filling our lungs and almost making us giddy that we were almost there...As we took the turn at Big Foot Beach on the outskirts of Lake Geneva...some of the girls would break into our Lake Geneva song...
...LAKE GENEVA...HERE WE COME...
...RIGHT BACK...WHERE WE STARTED FROM...
...OPEN UP YOUR GOLDEN GATES...
...LAKE GENEVA...HERE WE COME...
...It was our special little song...for years and years and years...
...As we pulled up to the cottage...a huge sigh was let out by everyone...While my Dad had the pedal to the medal and always got us there in two hours flat...To all of us...it was an endless ride of anticipation where our minds wandered wildly thinking of all the things we would do when we finally got there...
The Knollwood Cottage was such a neat place to escape to...It was deceptively large...and somehow we all just fit perfectly into each room that we had...A neat feature of the cottage were these see-through grates in the floor upstairs that allowed you to peer down into the kitchen below...There were so many cool things about the cottage...There was a big hill that our house sat on and my brothers would ride their wooden skateboards down the hill...hurtling downward at breakneck speeds as they rushed towards the bottom...I was way too scared to try something that crazy which made it all the more fun as each time they tried to make it more and more dangerous...My Dad would go up to Bell's Liquors and pick up several cases of Pepsi bottles and maybe a case of Burley's Orange Soda...Wow...my Dad could chug down a bottle of Pepsi in 3 seconds flat...There were no diet sodas back then and we were always thirsty because it was usually quite hot with our cottage about 3 blocks away from the lakeshore...
...All of my brothers and sisters were very excited because Knollwood was teaming with kids their age and they all had a ball going every which way in the areas surrounding the local beach and parks and everywhere in between...My family had been going up to Knollwood since the mid-1950's...so all of the kids really had a part of Knollwood held special in their hearts...for all of the great special times they had together there...
...After dinner...the girls would help do the dishes...no dishwashing machines back then...My Mother and Father would settle down in their kitchen chairs next to each other at the table and my Mom would serve up a cup of tea and some Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies...They seemed to enjoy these tasty new treats and there were so many other special desserts they would share together...since my Mom absolutely loved her desserts so, so much...I think both of their favorites were the Dresselers Chocolate Eclairs which absolutely melted in your mouth...
...I would probably be down in the basement by then...watching Hogans Heroes or Dick Van Dyke...and I would jump around bouncing a basketball or wait for my brothers to take out their hockey sticks...and watch with excitement as they went hard at each other...trying to score a goal at either end of the basement...Of course, the tile floor took quite a beating and every weekend one of my sisters would be left with the task of throwing down a layer of liquid MopN'Glo...which glazed over the rough spots and allowed the tile to look brand new...
They were very tranquil, busy times in all of our lives...All of my sisters had boyfriends, of course...And it seemed like they all showed up in 15 intervals apart on every weekend night...to pick them up for the evening and take them out to the various hang-outs...which were so popular for teenagers...My brothers were still at an age where they enjoyed beating each other up...and endlessly trying to beat one another in any type of competiton available...Me...I just kind of wandered about and let it all sink in...I really had no clue that anything was out of the ordinary...We were just a huge family of 10 people and that wasn't uncommon in our neighborhood which was just exploding with kids of all ages...everywhere...
...It was the 1960's...the South-Side of Chicago...in the parish of Saint Thomas More...You really couldn't have found a better slice of middle-class Americana in the houses and streets and alley-ways of this very proud neighborhood...We resided at 2724 West 86th Street...in the newer section of our area...We had only moved 4 blocks away 5 years back to accommodate our growing family...My Dad had bought 2 vehicles for the family...Usually, he'd like to pick out a Buick LeSabre as our luxury vehicle and something along the lines of a Chevy Impala Station Wagon for the family to all pile into for road trips...
...And as you can imagine...by now...the main destination of our road trips was up to our cottage in Knollwood in Lake Geneva...We'd all pile into the station wagon...with all kinds of clothes stuffed into these 2 giant Polish barrels that was thrown into the back where my brothers were seated...looking out at the traffic following us in the back window...They thought they were pretty slick by throwing candy out the back window as we sped along and watch it disintegrate into the fast moving pavement below...My sisters were like living saints all squished together in the back seat...And of course, my Dad was behind the wheel with my Mom beside him with me in her lap...
...The funny thing is that we would get about 5-10 minutes into our 2 hour trip up to Wisconsin and one of the kids would always yell out...Are we there...yet..!!!...My Dad would just try to hold in his temper while my Mom would pat his shoulder and respond to anyone in back that they should just try to relax because we had a long, long way to go...Eventually, we would find our way to the Illinois/Wisconsin border and everyone would roll down their window and breathe in the fresh air...It was somewhat intoxicating...the fresh, smog-free air...filling our lungs and almost making us giddy that we were almost there...As we took the turn at Big Foot Beach on the outskirts of Lake Geneva...some of the girls would break into our Lake Geneva song...
...LAKE GENEVA...HERE WE COME...
...RIGHT BACK...WHERE WE STARTED FROM...
...OPEN UP YOUR GOLDEN GATES...
...LAKE GENEVA...HERE WE COME...
...It was our special little song...for years and years and years...
...As we pulled up to the cottage...a huge sigh was let out by everyone...While my Dad had the pedal to the medal and always got us there in two hours flat...To all of us...it was an endless ride of anticipation where our minds wandered wildly thinking of all the things we would do when we finally got there...
The Knollwood Cottage was such a neat place to escape to...It was deceptively large...and somehow we all just fit perfectly into each room that we had...A neat feature of the cottage were these see-through grates in the floor upstairs that allowed you to peer down into the kitchen below...There were so many cool things about the cottage...There was a big hill that our house sat on and my brothers would ride their wooden skateboards down the hill...hurtling downward at breakneck speeds as they rushed towards the bottom...I was way too scared to try something that crazy which made it all the more fun as each time they tried to make it more and more dangerous...My Dad would go up to Bell's Liquors and pick up several cases of Pepsi bottles and maybe a case of Burley's Orange Soda...Wow...my Dad could chug down a bottle of Pepsi in 3 seconds flat...There were no diet sodas back then and we were always thirsty because it was usually quite hot with our cottage about 3 blocks away from the lakeshore...
...All of my brothers and sisters were very excited because Knollwood was teaming with kids their age and they all had a ball going every which way in the areas surrounding the local beach and parks and everywhere in between...My family had been going up to Knollwood since the mid-1950's...so all of the kids really had a part of Knollwood held special in their hearts...for all of the great special times they had together there...
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The Life and Times of Jim O'Leary
....And we're off...here we come around the bend...it looks like something I have never seen before...It's the all inclusive, first-class, all expenses paid trip to the wonderful world of Jim O'Leary...You will not only view destinations that you've never knew existed but you also get to keep going and going and going until you have explored every facet of my life...in all its vibrant colors and the truth to almost every secret nuance I have ever encountered...That's a pretty tall order coming from such a little guy...but I aim to keep you entranced with the magical journey my life has bestowed upon me...
...First off...a little inside info on what makes me tick...Essentially, I am a very religious person on the inside...I'm not an outward holy roller but I seem to save up all my praying time for when things get tough...I don't feel like bothering God when everything is A-O.K....I hold off until I am facing some type of extreme measure and I'm a little shaken on how to get thru that moment....
...Next...I've never had any formal training on writing...at any point in my high school or college careers...I've always just had an in-nate ability to tumble forth words from my mind onto paper at usually very extraordinary speeds...I honestly don't know where it comes from, whether I inherited from some distant relative or it is just God's way to keep me out of trouble and provide me with hours and hours of fascinating enjoyment...Of course, I'll take it in stride on anyone else's interpretation because it is a rather unusual talent that really didn't emerge until well beyond my comprehension...
...As so much of my life unfolds...you will tend to realize I was always content to remain in the shadows...I was very rarely outspoken...Maybe it was my upbringing, being the youngest of 8 kids...There was always something happening in front of me at an early age...And even though it was a raccaus atmosphere to grow up...I used to spend endless amount of hours playing by myself surrounded by about 20 stuffed animals which I dragged with me wherever I went...
...It does sound rather odd but my Mom and 5 sisters were always giving me stuffed animals and I just kept dreaming up strange identities for each and every one of them...I especially liked to make forts by draping blankets over my brothers bunk beds upstairs or by building a collosol extended fort village in the basement by taking all of the cushions off the chairs and couches and creating a hidden world that could have been a rocket ship or war bunker or just about anything my imagination could come up with that day...
...I was somewhat of a sickly child in my youngest years...but I really had an abundance of happiness in my life and that always kept me moving right along...I guess I owe that to all of my family members...for such a fortunate amount of joy and wonderment...that each one of them brought into my life...My Dad...the gruff, tuff, no nonsense while I'm around, kind of guy, always showed a gentler side of himself towards me...He was a veteran of the Chicago Police Dept. and it was not unusual to see him always wearing his gun as he walked thru the door after a hard day at work...only to make his way upstairs to place the gun up high on the highest part of the dresser...Then he would make his way downstairs to the living room where he would sit down on his favorite chair and read that day's Chicago Tribune newspaper...I would always bug him to let me read the sports section and I'd sit there on the floor next to him...almost copying his exact movements of flipping pages on our newspapers...My Dad had pulled out his big thick reading glasses out of the special case he kept tucked away in his breast pocket...
...Eventually...he would nod off and begin to snore even...He really had a loud snore and really everything about him was bigger than life to me...His hands seemed enormous...His fingers were thick and stubby and his voice was a very strong, forceful blast...My Dad seemed to contain his emotions inside mostly, unless one of his kids got a little too wild...Then, his blustery toughness was plainly exerted to get a quick resolution to any kind of matter that would arise...
...As my Dad would continue to take a quick nap...you could begin to smell what my Mother was cooking up for dinner nearby, out in the kitchen...She would whip up dinner for 10 on any given night...and each night...was always a little different...My Mom could make some of the best meatloaf anybody has ever tasted...I still...to this day have not tasted any Meatloaf dinner as good...Her secret...Her red gravy...which was a collection of meat juices and spices mixed thoroughly into a tomato soup base that we all just smothered over our mashed potatoes and meatloaf...It was far and away our favorite with a roast beef rump roast a close second...
...First off...a little inside info on what makes me tick...Essentially, I am a very religious person on the inside...I'm not an outward holy roller but I seem to save up all my praying time for when things get tough...I don't feel like bothering God when everything is A-O.K....I hold off until I am facing some type of extreme measure and I'm a little shaken on how to get thru that moment....
...Next...I've never had any formal training on writing...at any point in my high school or college careers...I've always just had an in-nate ability to tumble forth words from my mind onto paper at usually very extraordinary speeds...I honestly don't know where it comes from, whether I inherited from some distant relative or it is just God's way to keep me out of trouble and provide me with hours and hours of fascinating enjoyment...Of course, I'll take it in stride on anyone else's interpretation because it is a rather unusual talent that really didn't emerge until well beyond my comprehension...
...As so much of my life unfolds...you will tend to realize I was always content to remain in the shadows...I was very rarely outspoken...Maybe it was my upbringing, being the youngest of 8 kids...There was always something happening in front of me at an early age...And even though it was a raccaus atmosphere to grow up...I used to spend endless amount of hours playing by myself surrounded by about 20 stuffed animals which I dragged with me wherever I went...
...It does sound rather odd but my Mom and 5 sisters were always giving me stuffed animals and I just kept dreaming up strange identities for each and every one of them...I especially liked to make forts by draping blankets over my brothers bunk beds upstairs or by building a collosol extended fort village in the basement by taking all of the cushions off the chairs and couches and creating a hidden world that could have been a rocket ship or war bunker or just about anything my imagination could come up with that day...
...I was somewhat of a sickly child in my youngest years...but I really had an abundance of happiness in my life and that always kept me moving right along...I guess I owe that to all of my family members...for such a fortunate amount of joy and wonderment...that each one of them brought into my life...My Dad...the gruff, tuff, no nonsense while I'm around, kind of guy, always showed a gentler side of himself towards me...He was a veteran of the Chicago Police Dept. and it was not unusual to see him always wearing his gun as he walked thru the door after a hard day at work...only to make his way upstairs to place the gun up high on the highest part of the dresser...Then he would make his way downstairs to the living room where he would sit down on his favorite chair and read that day's Chicago Tribune newspaper...I would always bug him to let me read the sports section and I'd sit there on the floor next to him...almost copying his exact movements of flipping pages on our newspapers...My Dad had pulled out his big thick reading glasses out of the special case he kept tucked away in his breast pocket...
...Eventually...he would nod off and begin to snore even...He really had a loud snore and really everything about him was bigger than life to me...His hands seemed enormous...His fingers were thick and stubby and his voice was a very strong, forceful blast...My Dad seemed to contain his emotions inside mostly, unless one of his kids got a little too wild...Then, his blustery toughness was plainly exerted to get a quick resolution to any kind of matter that would arise...
...As my Dad would continue to take a quick nap...you could begin to smell what my Mother was cooking up for dinner nearby, out in the kitchen...She would whip up dinner for 10 on any given night...and each night...was always a little different...My Mom could make some of the best meatloaf anybody has ever tasted...I still...to this day have not tasted any Meatloaf dinner as good...Her secret...Her red gravy...which was a collection of meat juices and spices mixed thoroughly into a tomato soup base that we all just smothered over our mashed potatoes and meatloaf...It was far and away our favorite with a roast beef rump roast a close second...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)