F IS FOR .....

F is for FAMILY

Well, that's not a very original choice I know, but it really is for us because we are about to acquire a brand new family! 

My eldest son, at the age of 47, has decided to take the plunge.  He has had plenty of girl friends over the years  and I was quite resigned to him never getting married, so I nearly fell off the chair when he told me!  But we were SO happy to hear the news.

So now we have a ready-made family and I will have a ready-made granddaughter.  Of course we have known them for quite a while and we couldn't be happier.  Such a happy family!  MOTH will do the ceremony. It will all take place in about three weeks and this seemed the right time and place for me to announce it, though of course we have known for several months. The sweet little girl, H, is 11 going on 15, but such a sweetheart and attends a local Christian School.  Very smart with top notch grades.  She is joining the cheer leaders when school returns. (Grandmothers are allowed to boast aren't they?)  Altogether it is a blessing worth waiting for.

Now here's another F:

How about a FAMILY SECRET?

This is something that only I knew about our family, since I was about 6 or 7 years old.  I don't think my brother knew but he died  nearly 30 years ago. As far as I can ascertain no-one in my whole extended family knew, not aunts and uncles cousins etc. until it was revealed at my mother's funeral which was about ten years ago.  

My husband conducted the funeral  and during part of the proceedings included the fact that my mother had had four children.  Everyone there was shocked because they were sure there were only three children in our family, my brother,  my sister who is now in Canada and me.  But my mother had told me when I was about six years old that I had another brother whose name was Geoffrey but he had died a few days after he was born.  This event was never discussed in our family other than that one time when my mother told me.  

Unsuspectingly I told my husband this bit of family history for his preparation for the funeral.  I had no idea that no one else in the family knew about the fourth child. I just assumed that it was one of those topics that was not discussed in those days.  But I discovered that not even my mother's twin sister knew of Geoffrey.  His birth was between mine and my younger sister's.  My brother Michael was the oldest child. 

I quite distinctly remember the moment when and where I was when my mother told me, but we had no proof until my blogger cousin, Snafu did some family history and genealogy.  There among all the papers of information Snafu recently dug up, was the proof that blogger Kaybee (my sister) and I had another brother, Geoffrey.

All of my mother's generation have now passed on so now I will add this:  I'm sure there is more behind this story because I have some other bits and pieces of memories that fill out more of the picture.  But they shall remain a secret between my sister and I out of respect for my mother's memory.

This is my entry for this week's ABC Wednesday project.  F is the current letter.  We are now in the eleventh round of the alphabet and encourage you to join us -- or at least take a look at other entries which are always Fascinating. You will Find many more entries if you click HERE.