Wanna ride with me in my time machine?
This is a letter I sent to my oldest son about his birth.Tom,
It was springtime in 1961 and I was working as a foreign car mechanic at Rootes Motors in L.I.City. I had been there about 2 years. Rootes was a British car Co that made the Hillman, Sunbeam and Humber. We had 23 mechanics many of them came from Ireland. Some of the senior mechanics had served in WW2. I believe a few of the mechanics who came from Europe actually served in the Nazi military though they would never own up to that. My workbench was next to Jim Arrington, a black EX NYC cop. The most corrupt man I ever met. I got that job through the NY State employment agency. My starting pay was $2.37/HR which was pretty high at the time. I met your mother and we got married and you were born. By now you're probably wondering what Rootes Motors has to do with your birth, right? Not much, except one day not long after you were born when word went around that my wife, your mom, gave birth to a baby boy, one of the Irish mechanics came up to me to congratulate me, saying, "Good Job, you put a tail on it the first time out." Apparently it was viewed as an accomplishment to have a boy especially as a first time father. My God I thought, it must be rough to be a woman in Ireland.
I just thought it would be cool to take you on a trip back in time for just a moment to see and hear the world through my eyes and ears.
Dad
Comments (3)
at least he knew he was wanted, back in the day...
so many of us were accidents.
Nice name you chose for him, Tom is my 2nd favourite Irish name
Not just the Irish alone but is it not a man thing to want their first born to be a son
which does, did not mean they cared for their daughters, less.
Different roles, that's all.