My Dear Cousin - Parents

                                      29th April 2021

My dear cousin,

It comes to me that I now having little in the way of family and we being separated by not only the expanse of time but by the thickness of the American nation that I must be a mystery to you. Our short text conversations can only serve to add questions to the pile about me so a short recap of my life feels in order.

Take into account that I will focus on family, as that is your interest, and that I have forty one years to cover. Add to this my competing priorities of detailed report and brief notation. It has been said of me by the people of my work, and my legal counsel, that I write in grate vivid detail, but the account of the time would still drag on as one document.

Let us start with my mother, your aunt, who was born in Philadelphia, as far as I know, and left there to seek her education in New York. It was from there that she moved to California. It is unclear if her first husband was from the golden state or if he was from back east. My mother never spoke of the man. If this fellow was even real or just a figment of (Yule), her second husband’s, imagination I couldn’t say. 

My old man was born in Canada but grew up in Las Angeles. When he met my mother he was an army veteran with a solid government job. Mom, wanting children, asked for his hand in marriage and he said yes. My siblings were born two years apart, as this is what science told mother was best, and in another two years mom was pregnant with me. Needing a home to fit the family they moved to the home I now live in.

I should note here that (Yule) promised to become a Jew and keep my mother’s religion. He was taking the classes but stopped when my mother did not attend them with him. This is the old man’s account of the situation, mom never spoke of it, and he was very bitter.

Well, here we are I’m not born yet and the story feels a little long. Much more writing and I figure that it would just be dragging on. In any case, we have the rest of our lives to chat on, but I’ll continue with the story soon.

Best wishes,

 

Richard Leland Neal