Last night, my estranged brother called up my mom! He hadn’t talked to her since November of ’06. Said he wants to come back to PA to live. His family is up here and he’s alone and getting older. I know it had to do with what happened over the last day and I guess it got him thinking. He said he wants to sit and talk to me face to face-oh joy. He’s the one who basically only listens to his own opinions. This should be an interesting year ahead.

I’m not sure if my father turned Catholic. I found the info that my cousin’s friend must have saw-that he is having a memorial mass in his name, which isn’t the same as the religious mass. Maybe a priest or someone felt bad for him. It feels weird and all, but I lost him a long time ago, especially when he decided to be physically abusive to me and my family. I don’t share this with everyone, but when I was little, around 2-4, I slept on a cot at the top of the stairs in our first home. I would sneak in my grandmom’s room and snuggle with her until my father pulled me out of my safe haven and tossed me on the cot again, under the light that was on all night. I didn’t have a real bed until I was about 5 or 6. He also took my beloved pacifier and threw it down that same hallway and I never cared for him after that. I absolutely loved my grandmom’s brother-in-law, Uncle Al and he had to hold me all the time. When my father tried to hold me, I’d cry. My father did buy me a Barbie I begged for and got me a pink and green dress with a matching shoulder bag one time. That’s all the nice I remember. When my parents divorced in 1972, we all went to court and he wouldn’t even look at us. I can remember what I was wearing- a white knit top with the outline of a sequin star on the front.  That’s the last time I saw him except for a photo he sent my older brother about 1985.

Once he took off with my little brother in the car for hours and my mom and grandmom started to get worried. I don’t think Ken was more than 2. He did bring him back, of course.

He loved Oregon so much and missed it. My mom lived out west in San Francisco for a year but she missed PA and was about to have my older brother, so they came back.

My father’s relatives are really nice people. I have some interesting family history through them too-my great grandfather was one of the first forest rangers and my gr-grandmom wrote a book about her life called ‘Honeymoon on Horseback’. I have a copy! And there’s a park and maybe a stream (or water source) named after my great gf. 

My cousin compiled that great book on our family and sent me a copy a few years ago. I didn’t know that my paternal family arrived through Maine until I received that book!

So although I had a black sheep for a father, the people around him (though not my paternal grandfather) were always nice to us, especially my cousin and her mother and sister-who I met with her husband when I was little.

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I was going to do the Photo Hunt, but I didn’t get around to taking my wooden photo item yet.

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I’m so proud of Sean! He donated blood to help kids with cancer. He never did this before and felt a little woozy, but he’s pretty psyched too. He got a free t-shirt out of it too!

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I got the jewelry shown below-love the necklace! The  earrings are much bigger than pictured and too big for me. If anyone wants them, they are about 2″ long and still in their packaging. They are suppose to be red, but are more brown.