My Lifelong Childhood

"A house divided against itself cannot stand..."                         Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865 Coming up to the second anniversary of my blog, I realize I have steered clear from what my parents always warned me never to discuss in polite company: Politics, Sex and Religion.  Well guess what? After many years on this earth, I've decided I no longer have to be polite.  After waking up each morning ( and sometimes in the middle of the night), I'm having my Howard Beale moment..."I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!...".  The divisiveness of our world is weighing heavy on my mind.  I've avoided, thankfully, resorting to drugs and heavy drinking.  I do have my vices, such as sitting here writing this listening to Dionne Warwick on my Bose, singing old Bert Bacharach songs, or tearing up when I watch sentimental movies.  I still get the shivers when I listen to Elgar...

"Ay, Ay, to be sure, there are secrets in all families..."                                             George Farquar (1678-1707) from " The Beaux Stratagem" I call my blog "My Lifelong Childhood" because childhood is a time of discovery and exploring.  This story explains why I continue on this quest. It's been a little over a month since my last post but, in a nutshell, I've been busy!  In some of my earlier blogposts, I had mentioned discovering relatives I didn't know I had, all because of family secrets.  Once uncovered, the findings have blossomed into warm relationships.  Such was the case of my great-Aunt, Mathilde (Tillie) who had followed her brother, Leon, my grandfather, to America from Vienna in 1913 after his arrival in 1905, having established himself in business.  There was never any mention of Tillie during my entire youth and I ...