Thanks, everyone. My good Millinocket friend, Colleen Powers McLaughlin, posted a birthday message earlier and I asked her to delete. Thats a good friend! Now, Im done work and want to ask all of you a question, after I tell you a bit about this night. Usually, on my birthday, I would send my mother roses, one for each year. (After that got EXPENSIVE, I went back to a simple dozen.) Its been a sad day here for reasons, but I still want to ask a question. First of all, Im sitting ten feet from where I was born, on this day in 1953. I was almost six years younger than the next sibling. The older siblings didnt know Mama was having a baby (maybe oldest brother did...at eleven years old.) But keeping the impending birth a secret, Mamas friends gave her a baby shower in October, but sang Happy Birthday to her. And then, when the time came for me to be born, they were roused up from sleep...quite late at night....and sent to our Aunt Ellies house. Daddy was working in the woods, down in Patten, with Roger Simon. (Dear Shirley Simon. Every year she would call me and then put Roger on the phone so he could tell me how he and Daddy drove home to see the baby and I rocked you in the rocking chair.) Sister Joan has told me many times about that night. They were so afraid Mama was dying. She said that Aunt Ellie asked, Do you know what your mother is having? and that sister Linda blurted out, A heart attack?? Ah, the emotional rigors of New England life for some of us. Anyway, Dr, Albert came from Fort Kent to deliver me, and I believe it was...oh damn...who was the midwife? Maybe Mrs. Fred Hafford? (Brother Vernon once referred to the midwife as riding shotgun.) So here is my question. Even in Allagash in 1953, it was a bit unusual for a baby to be born at home. Or so I believe. I think the hospital was already built in Fort Kent? Were any of you reading this (1) born at home? And (2) do you still live in that house you were born in? Im wondering just how unique this situation is. The room where I was born was a small downstairs bedroom where Mama and Daddy slept. (And yes, I still call them Mama and Daddy.) When I turned 60, a few family members and friends came and we all crowded into that same room, which is now a small bathroom! And we had a toast to this night. So thank you, niece, for remembering. And all of you. But mostly, I want answers to my questions on this very very snowy night! I just opened a bottle of red wine and Im raising a toast to all of you.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 23:58:44 +0000
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