Frank married Anne on May 3, 1958. They lived together for 24 years first in Irvington and later in Union New Jersey. My mother was living in the apartment in my grandmother's house with her sister Irene. My father began dating her, but they did not marry until my mother was 35, which accounts for the ultimatum if there was one. My mother told me that her parents were from Hungary, but after going through my father's papers yesterday, among the illuminating items I found was my mother's birth certificate, stating her parents were from Austria. Regardless, it was an Eastern European marriage, filled with dumplings, paprika chicken, pierogies, and lots of pork and sauerkraut. I only became aware of what might be defined as a "crispy vegetable" when I returned from England and moved to New York City in 1985. Before that I thought corn was a vegetable.
Three years later I was born, which had to be somewhat shocking to my 50 year old father, however involved he had been with the process. Despite his age and the fact he retired when I was 15 years old, despite the fact my parents were always the oldest parents at every event, despite the fact I had to fight to be allowed to wear Converse sneakers and only the intervention of my mother's best friends ended the shoe wars, despite all this, I was never suspicious that they were older than other people's parents. My father taught me baseball as if I was the son he maybe wanted. I had the highest batting average on my team and I rarely missed a fly ball. He hit ground balls to me on ball fields in Union NJ well into his 60s and the story he liked the most is commemorating the time a group of fathers were watching me catch those balls and commented "your son is a great ball player." This is second only to the less kind story of poor Timmy who I in a rare moment of cruelty, hit with an apple from across a busy highway and knocked off his bike. When his mother came to our house to complain, my father knew immediately I was capable of it and apologized profusely.
me
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