Surprise!

In the spring of 1968, when my mom was 40, she went on her first trip to Europe with several of her friends. On her return home, mom thought she had a bladder infection and went to see her doctor. He diagnosed her problem as one frequently occurring during pregnancy.... and come to find out, she was about 3 1/2 months pregnant! Given that she had such difficulty conceiving and carrying babies to term, this was very unexpected.

Baby Emily was born on December 31st. My brother Sam was initially disappointed that he had a new sister since he wanted to teach his new sibling how to play football (oh the gender assumptions back in the day!) He did eventually teach her. I, on the other hand, was ecstatic to have another sister! It was evident that Emily had her own very independent agenda about her life. And she had her own ideas about bed time, which simply didn't exist for her. My parents gave up on putting her to bed, and dressing her in pajamas and letting her fall asleep when and where she wanted to and one of us would tuck her in to bed late at night.

My recollections from that time are somewhat hazy - perhaps it's the passage of time - more than 60 years now. Or perhaps it was the pain of being a young teenage girl and all that goes along with that fragile chapter of life. I was terribly shy all through elementary and high school.

My parents seemed absent much of those first years of Emily's life. I left to go to college in Boston in the fall of 1974, so we only lived in the same house together for 5 1/2 year. But I loved inviting her to stay with me at my apartment in Boston, and we sent cards to each other. In retrospect, I think this was the beginning of my longing for children and "my own" family.

I was developing a deep interest in photography during this time and I loved taking photographs of Emily. I still have several black and white prints that I made in my make-shift darkroom. My favorite is posted below, along with a shot of mom and Emily as a tiny infant.