Entry 8

Hmmm any Rum in those cokes my boys:-) I think you kids know Jon has a special place in my heart. I really think of him more as a son then a nephew. Zach, Jon, and I have had some great vacations together, Telluride, Stowe xs many, Maine, and Arizona. Both of them are quite brilliant so I am sure they got away with stuff I was unaware of at the time.

Zach said he has heard most of these stories so I best put on my thinking cap. Hmm did I ever tell you that I was the Red Feather, before the Jimmy Fund, poster boy in 1959. I got to stand up in front of a few thousand contributors and thank them for supporting Children's Hospital in Boston. When I walked unassisted to the podium I got a big round of applause. My folks cried and were forever referring to me as their "..miracle boy...", little did they know some of the miracles yet to unfold in my later life. You may wonder what prompted Mom and me to leave the sunshine and easy pace of Florida. The schools in Florida tend to be less then stellar and we still had a lot of family in MA. We ended up living in a condo. in Stoughton, MA.. It was rather nice, 2 car attached garage, I think one and a half bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, plenty of space for the then three of us. Mom was working as an O.T. for the State and I was running a cottage on the 11-7 shift at McLean Hospital. Your Uncle Wayne and Aunt Barbara were living in Salem, Uncle Edward was living with Aunt Suzanne in Boston, and my Sister Barbara was divorced and living in Florida. Your Kelly grandparents were in North Port, Florida, where your grandfather Frank was selling houses. This is around 1983 when I was 32 yrs old. Mom and I started working at Hogan in mid to early 1984. Its hard to believe its been 26 yrs working for D.M.R./D.D.S.. I really thought I'd work at Hogan three years and then get a Ph.D. . I did eventually get an Advanced Graduate Degree from U.MA.-Boston (1989) but just did not find the time to do a dissertation. Jeremy and Julia there is a lesson here to fully commit to your dreams or they tend to drift away. In future entries you'll read about buying the house, meeting my lifetime friends Joe, Keith, and Richard, the arrivals of Jeremy and Julia, and some of my adventures and misadventures. Love you all to the Moon and back, Dad