Two years ago, my cousin Gina and her husband Vincent were gifted with a subscription to “Storyworth” – a company that helps you to write a memoir for the benefit of future generations. Today, she shared their stories with close family. In addition to learning much that I did not know, especially about their early years and family roots, I enjoyed seeing photos of relatives I had not seen before. Pictured above is my paternal grandfather, whom we affectionately called Poppy. He was a professional sculptor with a kind and gentle soul. Below is my father, on the right, with his siblings, Ernest (Ernie), Antoinette (Bieg), and Gina’s mother, Jacqueline (Jackie).

While I have done a pretty thorough job of documenting my life for the last 20 years by way of this blog, it occurs to me that my kids and possibly Jeanine know little of my childhood. Perhaps, one day, I will try and document some of my early memories, and if I am feeling very ambitious, try to summarize nearly 10,000 blog entries into a somewhat more digestible form.