|
from the Hospital...so I was left to raise this precious child all alone with 1 strike against him by never knowing his real Dad.....and even though it has been almost 30 years I still miss John's smiling face and bubbly personality.... but must admit Derek does have a lot of his Dads mannerisms and personality. For the first 2 years of Derek's life I tried to keep alive any memories I could for him . He so desperately wanted a Dad like his friends in pre-school......this where Gene's Dad entered our lives.. He was a kind gentle man who loved Derek like his own...they bonded and were buddies he took Derek everywhere and at that point I was ready to do all I could to bring a bit of happiness and sunshine into our dark and lonely lives so a relationship began and the 3 of us were very happy {or so I thought }....when I realized that I was going to have another child Gene was born on June 3,1971. I was so excited that Derek was going to have a playmate and friend. But that was soon to change when Gene Sr realized that he did not want a child of his own. To this day I still don't understand why he felt that way..... because he left us and it wasn't until a few years later when Gene was already born and he came back to see us and realized what a mistake he had made and "wanted to do the right thing" and believe it or not I fell for that line I so wanted stable life for my 2 boys. So we set off on our journey to get married buy our house with its white picket fence and live happily ever after.....NOT!!!. On the day of my wedding apparently Gene Sr forgot and Married someone else. In fact his memory was so bad he forgot to tell his new wife that we even existed So once again I somehow found the stamina to get up brush myself off start again and raise my precious babies alone....But of course not without the help from my family. I thank God daily for my 3 Sisterand1 Brother they are definitely my source of strength even now after all these years......My hubby teases me by saying we {my 3 sisters and 1 brother} are so close that if 1 gets a splinter 4 come running with tweezers ;-)....for that I thank my Mom and Dad because if neither one of my parents had ever added anything to our lives they can take the credit for giving us each other.....a gift that never ends. Although I was alone in raising my sons there is NOT one thing I would have changed during our growing up together....... Derek was content with having a brother and Gene was like a sponge absorbing everything Derek had to teach him. As they grew into young men they always respected each other and were close. Of course there were the times when words were exchanged between them but it seemed always a minor spat and they made pact to never go to sleep angry at each other. Of the 2 Derek was the one who always came up with a hair brained ideas and Gene always ready to help him carry them out....a task that had landed them in hot water with Mom of course....any parent of a 15yr old and 17yr old can relate to some of the antics they can get into nothing traumatic just teenage stuff.{ And I will get into that later }. there are so many stories to tell and want to check with Derek as to what he feels I should enter. |
