Page 18 - letmetellyou

The Early Years
During this period, I experienced a strong sense of family, of being normal. We went on family picnics, attended my father’s softball games with other military families, and even went to the movies and ate out in downtown Dayton, not inexpensive for such a large family. Saturday mornings, my mother would cook breakfast and we would have contests about who could eat the most pancakes; Aunt Jemima’s, of course. I don’t remember who won. It was just fun.
When the war ended, we moved back to Toledo. Due to the post-war housing shortage, like many military families, we moved in with relatives; in our case, my dad’s mother and father and one of his sisters and her son and my dad’s youngest brother. With the addition of the seven of us, we were in close quarters, to say the least, although my grandfather was generally gone a week at a time living in a caboose provided by the railroad. When he was home, he slept most of the time. Having recently visited a railroad museum and toured a caboose, I now understand why. He would have been more comfortable sleeping on the rails. My father’s father was a big man, well over six feet tall and weighing at least two hundred and fifty pounds. The wooden planks which served as his bed were barely six feet long and designed for a man of more normal girth. It’s no wonder he smelled of liquor when he returned home.
My dad’s mother and my mother did not get along. He was grandma’s favorite, whom she always called by his given name, "William", rather than Bill, and any woman would have been an unacceptable, undeserving daughter-in-law let alone my mother who had "stolen" my father from the Catholic Church of which grandma was a faithful and devout member as well as an avid bingo supporter if not addict. Not infrequently, I recall hiding silently behind furniture from bill collectors grandma had failed to pay from her bingo winnings when they came to her house to collect until grandpa found out. That didn’t stop her from going to
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My earliest recollections of family occurred during the war in Dayton. My older brother and I shared a bunk bed. He got the upper bunk and I got the lower. He accused me once of stealing something of his. I denied it and don’t believe I did but I was punished for it. Generally, however, I don’t recall any conflict with him during this period. I think I was just too young.