5 Feb 2019 – 8:34 pm Photo on the left, my parents shortly after they married at the end of 1956, about 6 weeks before I was born. The photo on the right, my godfather with my parents at my baptism in March 1957, about 6 weeks after I was born. About the time I would have been being born in order to actually be … Continue reading “…try to imagine what it was like for my parents, and what they did and what they could have done differently.”

Where should I go?” Alice. That depends on where you want to end up.  The Cheshire Cat A cluster of five photographs is the first thing I see on moving from my bedroom to the main room of my flat: my grandmother and me with our pets are paired in a single frame with a 40 years earlier photo of Gram and her grandmother with … Continue reading Through the Looking Glass

Do I have a secret? [Noun] No. Did my parents keep secret the circumstances of my conception? Yes. Were they aware that mom came to their relationship with a pregnancy? No. Did my mother deceive my father about her pregnancy. No. Did my parents create our family through deception? No. Did my parents create a deceptive “origin of our family” narrative? Yes. Have I been … Continue reading I’ve Got a [Paternity] Secret

  A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. ― Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried   For 17 years, 26 August marked my Pops’ memorial celebration. This year is a dramatically different celebration for me as I’ve discovered one family secret I didn’t know: This year I celebrate David Allen Alexander as … Continue reading The People We Carry