Where to Begin?

In the words of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, “To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born.”

I was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (and I’ve heard ALL the jokes!). My mom and dad had moved there from Balcarres only 5 years before. I have two older sisters, Judy and Heather (in below picture). Judy was born in Balcarres and Heather was also born in Moose Jaw. My Aunt Nell (my mom’s oldest sister seen in the picture with me on my christining) and Uncle Harry also lived there. My mom’s other sister, my Auntie Vina, and her family lived in Marquis, Sask. I don’t remember too much of my life in Moose Jaw as my father passed away when I was 9 months old and my mother remarried a family friend (who was actually my aunt’s brother! I’ll explain that one in another post), and we moved to Montreal. I have, however, heard a few stories from when I was a baby.

One story was about the time I was tossed on the bed and forgotten about! Judy and Heather were outside riding their bikes across the street in the Safeway parking lot. When it was time to come home, Judy told Heather to stay put while Judy took the bikes across the street and would come back for Heather. Well, Heather, being the stubborn 5 yr. that she was, didn’t listen and decided to cross the street on her own. There was a car that was going to cross the intersection at the same time – he was only going about 5 mph. They both hesitated – they both started and stopped and then both started again at the same time. Crash! Heather gets hit and manages to break both headlights (we still haven’t figured out how she managed that!). Heather was screaming, Judy was hysterical and the poor man driving the car was beside himself. Fortunately there was a police officer right there and saw the whole thing. Mom tossed me on the bed (o.k. she laid me down gently) and her and my aunt came running out of the house to see what the ruckus was all about. The police officer didn’t want to wait for the ambulance so he, Heather, my mom and my aunt drove off to the hospital. Judy went inside to tell my dad what happened. It was only after about 2 hrs that my mom remembered about me! She called home and my dad checked and there I was, sleeping peacefully like there was not a care in the world.

The other story I remember being told was when my Uncle Harry nearly cursed in church, but I’ll leave that for tomorrow.