Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

I was born at the Boston Lying-In Hospital [ed: now Brigham and Women's Hospital] on March 17, 1919. My mother, every now and then, would tell the story how the nurses, when I was cleaned up, took me to her and had tied a green ribbon on my head.

I would be the only one in the family that would be born in a hospital. My brothers and sisters were born at home. In my 80s, I read a newspaper article that children born in a hospital would live longer than siblings born at home.

I should have had more siblings but my mother had four miscarriages. The result of her born gave her a hard time coming into the world and also caused some interior damage. [ed: Not sure the meaning of this sentence. Dad had two sisters so not sure if this refers to one of them or one of the miscarriages.] Years later she went to a hospital to have her insides corrected. Many years later.

My life as a toddler was pleasant from my viewpoint. We lived on Frankfort Street in East Boston in a third floor, cold water flat. Four rooms that consisted of a kitchen, dining room, which had a beautiful light shade.We were never told where it came from. It was an expensive one. Made of different stained glass colors. The colors were soft, not with the brilliant stained glass windows. I have forgotten the name of the maker or artist in New York. [ ed: Louis Comfort Tiffany] Not many people could afford one.At that time, my father was doing very well.

It is difficult to remember things from this stage. Our flat was heated by a coal stove and the coal supply was in the cellar. Each tenant had their own and light was supplied by gas.

After me came my brother, Mario..