She could tell them a tale or two, but the tales remained untold.
The father of their children won her over when she was just a young girl running away from home. They met at the Bread and Wine Mission in North Beach. He spun won her over with tales of Father Isaac and Grandfather Abraham, Mother Sarah, and Grandma Ruth who provided for their children, worked hard in the old country, saved enough money to migrate to the new country where they worked very hard in the garment industry in New York City.
When she told him she was pregnant, he asked, “Is it mine?” The ultimate insult. She didn’t answer. Her mother had told her that she must be sure to find a man willing to marry her; otherwise, he didn’t really love her.
She didn’t understand when rather than rejoicing, her intended wanted to sacrifice their unborn child! Angry, hurt, and proud, she walked out of the house into the night and realized she had no one to go to, no mother or best friend. She spent the night sleeping in a nearby field.
Meanwhile, back at home, her intended wondered should he call the police, but he decided he didn’t want to get police involved in a family argument. In case she went missing or was attacked, he reasoned, surely police would reach out to contact him.
She returned home that morning. He relented.
By the time she reached age twenty-two, she was mother to three young children.
Those children were wanted. She’d never told them what had happened because she wasn’t in the habit of telling that kind of truth, but she’d fought for them, she’d won their lives, and she held no doubt in her mind that they were wanted.
In the outside world, hysteria reigned. Beatlemania took over the airwaves to sound a joyful musical backdrop to life itself. She and her children sang “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” as they crossed the street.
They couldn’t afford a television set, so when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, a neighbor invited their whole family to come over to see the Beatles.
The Beatles opened with “All My Loving,” and followed it with “Til There Was You”. After a break, they
came back with “She Loves You” (Yeah, yeah, yeah), and after another break they closed out with a bang by singing their number one hit on the charts, “I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND”!
At home, they sang “If there’s anything that you want, if there’s anything I can do, just call on me and I’ll send it along, with love from me to you.” There was a song for everything, and they sang their hearts out.
They wanted their dad to sing too. “I can’t carry a tune,” he said. “Try, just try,” they begged.