PROLOGUE
“Uphill Both Ways, An Anecdotal Memoir“
My Dearest Sarah and Patrick,
Before you is a set of stories about your father. When you wake up one morning and notice that you are not the towhead kid that you once were, you get a first hand look at your own mortality. It has long been my intention to leave you both with some tangible evidence of your family heritage. Yes, we have the ancestry tree that has been passed from one generation to another. That tells us the who and the what of those who lived before us. But it doesn’t tell us anything about the how and the why of those lives.
I know very little about my parents. There were very few stories about their respective childhoods and certainly nothing written first hand about those events that shaped their lives, their attitudes, and why they did the things they did. I am sure that both my father and mother experienced pivotal moments in their childhood that affected them, and their children later in life. I just don’t know what they are. I have long believed that my parents did a disservice to their children by not revealing their life’s experiences to us.
This is a collection of stories about those events that helped to shape your father into the person you know. I’m sure you have wondered why I do things the way I do. You have probably wondered why I think the way I do. Some of it comes from the teachings of my parents and some of it comes from my experiences with the unique and wonderful people who I encountered along the way. It all combines into a picture of the life of a person.
As you know, your grandfather (my father) died of Alzheimer’s disease. This in no way means that I will suffer the same fate, however that thought does linger in those dark places where I walk alone. Because of that possibility, I have started writing these stories earlier than I had originally wanted. I am not afraid of many things in this life, but I am afraid of leaving you. I’m afraid of not knowing who you are, not knowing Mom, and not knowing your children. If that time should come, at least I will have documented the pivotal moments in my life so that you can better understand who I am. I do this for you out of the deepest respect for who you have become. It is my hope that you will show that same respect for your own children and document those pivotal moments in your own lives for them.
To me, this is an integral part of parenting. Mom and I raised you both as best we could. We continue to be available to you, as you need support, advice, and guidance. As you will undoubtedly find out, parenting doesn’t stop. It’s a job that you take on for life and it will probably be the hardest job you will ever have. But, the proudest moment and the greatest achievement in my life was when I earned the title of parent.
With deepest love and respect,
Please feel free to share this page on your favorite social media below. Thanks.
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Thanks so much for following my blog! Best of luck with yours. 🙂
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Heya thank you for checking out my blog, I appreciate the follow 🙂 love the idea of your site, looking forward to your posts.
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Hello! I stopped by to thank you for finding and following us at And Three To Go and am so glad that I did! This is a fantastic idea and I am so looking forward to reading your posts! Thanks again for finding us and have a Happy New Year!
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Thank you very much and Happy New Year to you. I hope you enjoy it here.
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Thanks for the visit and follow. I must say you have a great idea here. I am another member of the club that wishes he could have read something like this from his family. I am enjoying my visit.
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Thanks Tony. I appreciate your visit and I hope you find lots of things to enjoy here.
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First, thanks for following my blog…
Your ‘About’ really surprised me… what a lovely thought! Wish my parents had done something similar and I am sure I’m not the only one.
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You are very welcome. I hope you will enjoy your visits here and comment on the stories as you go along.
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I will 🙂
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What a wonderful gift for your family. If I had something like this from my forefathers, what a treat that would be, and lots of questions answered.
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Thank you very much. Like you, I wish I had something like this from my parents. I hope you will come back often to enjoy the stories.
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Love your beautiful introduction. We all share the same concerns. Thanks for following Nutsrok down the same road.
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We storytellers need to stick together. I hope you enjoy your visits here.
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I love it.
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I came here to first thank you for the FOLLOW (so thank you!), but reading this sweet message for your kids has made me an instant follower of yours. I do not really yet know what I will read but I know they will be very interesting. Maybe it will give me more insights on parenting 🙂
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Thank you very much. I hope you will return often and enjoy your visits.
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Am back again…just wanted to ask…what is location in the picture on this About page?
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Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston. The background has been photo-shopped out.
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Looks wonderful (and I’m not even a boating kind of girl!)
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Boston is a wonderful place to live. A ‘little’ expensive now, but wonderful just the same.
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My apologies, I just realized that I misunderstood your question. I thought you were referring to my picture within the ‘About’ text. I now believe you were referring to the header picture [with the boats.] The answer to your question is: it is the Marina at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Sorry for the confusion.
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Thank you so much for the follow on my blog. I’m in a bit of a hiatus right now (relocation in progress) but I’ll be back shortly hopefully and I very much look forward to reading more of your blog as well! I’m still reading everyday so I’m sure you’ll see my comments all over your blog! Looks lovely so far!
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Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.
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While the post was lovely, it was overwhelming. Survival was what childhood was and I later worked in Child Protection and a private therapy center.
I thank you for choosing to follow one of my blogs and hope you continue to enjoy the posts. Perhaps one day you might check out the other blog?
http://poetryphotosandmusingsohmy.wordpress.com
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Thank you, I’m glad you liked it.
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What a wonderful idea and beautifully expressed. I look forward to exploring your blog.
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Thank you very much. I hope you find good things as you explore.
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i’m still figuring out where to even start on your blog! there is so much and it’s all interesting….thanks for the follow and hoping to learn from you….
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Thank you very much, I really appreciate it. May I suggest that you go to https://jtweaverblog.wordpress.com/uphill-both-ways/ and begin there. I look forward to your comments along the way and I hope you enjoy the reading.
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What a great blog you have! Thank you so much for finding me and for the follow. 😀
cate b
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Thanks Cate, I really appreciate it. I hope you will find things of interest here.
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You write so beautifully!!!
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Thank you, I appreciate it.
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This is great! Thanks for following my blog!
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Thanks Joshua, I appreciate it.
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What a wonderful introduction! As I have been attempting to write my memoir, ‘Enduring Threads’, for my own children I relate to your blog and shall be interested in following. Thank you for your follow to my own. 🙂
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Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy it.
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Thank you for following my simple blog; I admire your courage as you move forward with yours.
peace out
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Thanks, I appreciate it.
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Many thanks for following my blog! I’m now following yours. 🙂
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Thanks Judith, I appreciate it.
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Many thanks for stopping by my blog and liking it enough to follow, and much luck with your blog too! 🙂
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Thanks Jude, I appreciate it.
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Great idea for a blog. The stories will be there when the time comes for the kids to want to read them. Thanks also for following my blog.
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Thanks Tom, I appreciate it.
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Thank you for following my blog.Writing has brought my own upbringing to light so much that I took my children to Africa to see my old schools.It has made my wonder about my parent’s upbringing and I have had to interview my mother alot about her childhood.My father is no longer with us and his upbringing will always remain a mystery.Thank you for you inspiring piece!
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You are very welcome. I hope you will enjoy it here often.
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Oh I love this. Thank you for following my blog, as I’m grateful now to have found you. I look forward to reading more of yours!
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Thank you very much. I hope you will enjoy your visits here.
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Thanks for following my blog. Reading your about page makes me feel blessed to know that I have heard many stories of both my parents as well as my grandparents times and I feel I should chronicle some of the stories so that those times are not lost to my daughter and she can appreciate the circumstances that were. Thanks for sharing. I owe you for inspiring this idea 🙂
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Best of luck in documenting your parents’ stories Shoma. Please come back to visit some time.
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Thank you for liking my post and following my blog. I am enjoying meandering through yours. Cheers!
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Thanks Judy. I hope you enjoy the visit.
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Thanks for stopping by my blog and for the follow. I look forward to reading more of yours. I just returned from a trip to Virginia to visit my family and find your blog to be very timely to where I am right now. In life, as we really have is family and I think sometimes we tend to forget. Thank you for the reminder! I look forward to reading more.
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You are very welcome. I hope you will enjoy it here and visit often.
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my sincere thanks for following my blog – http://YourWellWisherProgram.wordpress.com, it drives me ahead. regards
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JT, I have no idea how you found my blog, but I am so glad you did! Thank you for following, and I am so excited to read your Uphill both ways stories. My mother is living with Alzheimers or dementia, we don’t really have a solid diagnosis, but really, what’s the point in putting her through more testing? She has already forgotten her life story and my father died when I was 22, so the few stories I do recall about them I have captured to an extent. I do fear future memory loss, so I started blogging with the thought of capturing my memories, but am actually slanting more toward just capturing life’s beautiful experiences. Anyway, sorry for the long comment and I look forward to seeing more from you!
Cheers, Lynne
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Thanks Lynne. Everything you write tells people who you are. The larger the written sampling you can leave behind, the clearer the picture of you as a person is left behind. Good luck.
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Agreed, and thank you!
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Hello JT, thank you for visiting and following my blog. You have a great one yourself and I have now followed you. Have a blessed day.
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Thanks Shirley, I appreciate it.
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What a gift you’re giving to your kids. And to us. Thanks.
Pat
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You’re welcome Pat. I hope you’re able to check out the Uphill Both Ways page. I look forward to your comments.
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I hadn’t thought about my blog being a record for my kids. While it’s not specific to them, I guess it will give them an idea of who I was (if they haven’t figured it out by now!!). Thanks for the follow.
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You are very welcome. Sometimes the children are just looking for hints or clues. Why do we do what we do? Within a body of work the clues will emerge.
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Thank you for following my blog. I look forward to reading your posts 🙂
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Thanks Julie. Good luck with your novel.
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Ni hao Weaver Xiansheng! (Hello Mr Weaver)
I am delighted you have decided to follow me – I hope you enjoy my posts about my life in China. My aim is to show family, friends and others who live in the west a bit of what I am discovering whilst living here. It has not always been what I expected, on the whole China is a much much better place than I imagined it would be – and the Chinese people are great.
To be honest, I have done some rootling around on your blog and found much I agree with – we are obviously of more-or-less the same vintage! I will be checking in regularly.
With best wishes, Zai jian!
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Thank you for visiting and commenting, I really appreciate it.
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Thanks for following the Blinkbuggy Blog! Love your focus. This is exactly why we started Blinkbuggy. We wanted to leave more than just boxes of memories for our kids but stories that will tell them who we were and how we felt and experienced them as kids. Looking forward to reading more of your stories!
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You’re welcome and I hope you enjoy it here. It is a noble cause we undertake.
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I found the introduction to your stories and your message to your children quite moving. Will be interested in reading them. Thanks for stopping by and following my blog. While it is fiction, I, too, think it will allow my daughter some insight into what made mom who she is. Thanks again.
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Thanks Amy, I appreciate it.
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Lovely. . . . and many thanks for the follow!
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Thanks Anne. I appreciate it.
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Thanks for visiting and following my blog. Your children are very lucky to have these stories! I wish I had more of them from my own father but alas he suffers from an Alzheimers-type dementia and can no longer tell many of them. I cherish every lucid moment I have with him. I am sure your family knows how precious these memories are. Thanks for sharing them with the world as well.
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Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
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Hey there! Thank you for stopping by Primal Zen and becoming a follower! And, if you’re a fan of coffee and/or dark chocolate, please stop by my food blog, Tales from the Dark Roast Side! You might find a thing or two you like! Have a wonderful week!
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Thank you so much for the annstvincent.com blog follow; I hope you enjoy what you read and look forward to hearing from you.
I, in turn, look forward to exploring your blog!
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Thanks Ann, I appreciate it. I look forward to it.
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This is actually inspirational. I have written some things about my past but I haven’t really thought of it being a keepsake as it were. Really, I do keep things from generations before me. I love the idea of passing it on.
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Thanks Drew. I hope you will enjoy the stories here.
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I’m sure I will. I probably will be able to relate.
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JT, Just seen your decision to follow Learning from Dogs and I am bowled over by that. Have been writing Learning from Dogs almost five years now (July 15th) and the greatest aspect of ‘blogging’ is the incredible connections that are made across this ‘virtual’ world. So I do hope you will not only follow my meanderings but also feel free to comment when so moved. And sharing some of your own essays as guest posts would be a double bonus. Look forward to reading more of your posts.
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Thanks Paul, I appreciate it. There is great wisdom in what you write and that was my attraction. Please feel free to re-blog anything of mine that you believe would be enjoyable by your readers.
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A double thank you, JT. Firstly, by doing me a great honour with your kind words and, secondly, for offering me the opportunity to republish your own musings. I will most certainly be doing that! All the very best, Paul.
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Today I watched my mom (78) and dad (82) drive away after a lovely visit. They were in my dad’s Mustang convertible. Both had smiles on their faces. My dad has always been a car guy. He had been a career FBI Agent too. Today whenever he tells his stories, I want to secretly tape him. He’ll never write them down and is uninterested in anyone else capturing these amazing real-life scenes. For some reason, today as they drove away I thought: I know his stories but I don’t really know him…
I think what you’re doing here is beyond commendable, it’s beautiful. You’re giving your children and grandchildren…treasure, something that not only captures your life, but their rich histories.
Really lovely.
AnnMarie
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Thank you AnnMarie, I really appreciate your thoughts. I hope you will enjoy the stories you find here and also, if you have time, in my book as well.
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Thanks so much for visiting and following my blog! I appreciate it very much. 🙂
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You are very welcome.
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Thanks 🙂
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Hello, JT. Thank you for stopping by my blog and I’m so glad I visited yours. There’s a lot of heart and soul in your words. As my children get older, I feel like I’m “on the clock” to convey as much about my life experiences as I can while I can. Thanks for the reminder that because you’ve remembered something, it deserves to be told.
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You’re welcome Elizabeth and thank you for your words. I’m glad I got things written down when I did. I hope you find things of interest here.
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JT-Thanks so much for following my blog, The Upsizers. I’ll do my best to keep you entertained! Mark
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You are very welcome Mark. Great blog.
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Thank you so much for deciding to “follow” my WordPress self. I’m not sure what attracted your attention, but whatever it was, I’m glad. You yourself are a splendid writer, and I’m very pleased to begin following you, too. 🙂
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Thanks Nina, I appreciate it.
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I think I just got inspired. I wanted to interview my grands before they passed, but I got lazy.
My parents, I know, will have plenty of stuff to talk about. And I’d hate for their wide experience to go unchronicled.
Thank you!
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You are very welcome. Let me know if I can help in any way.
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Greetings from Loop, here at Roadwax.com. I love your street-fighter style of delivery and those glasses. I must get both. 🙂
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Thanks, I appreciate it.
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Thank you for following “A Way With Words.” I find great joy in writing and my joy is made more complete when people read what I’ve written. While I write primarily about faith & mental illness, I am always looking for new topics to address. If you have anything you’d like to see, please let me know.
You have a very intriguing blog. I am very interested in family stories myself. I pray you are blessed as you bless generations to come.
Gratefully,
Tony Roberts
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Thanks Tony, I appreciate it.
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Thank you for visiting and following LondonUnveiled.com – I hope you enjoy the blog and you find some interesting things to do in London! All the best, Ian
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