Sacrifice

I. Where It Started

I am not exactly sure what compels me to tell you this story, except that it is a story that should be told. It is a story about sacrifice, but more importantly it is a story about love. A son's love for his mother.

You will have to forgive me if some of the details are a bit fuzzy, it has been many years and since these are not the events from my life, I will try to fill them in as I remember them. Since this story may be rather long I will most likely break it up into chapters, posting them one at a time maybe two. Not sure at this point how many there will be.

Some 50 plus years ago a male child was born. His name is Paul. Paul is the youngest of 6 children. There was nothing exceptional about his life. A typical family with loving, caring parents and of course many siblings to play and fight with. Pretty normal surroundings as families go.

One fateful night that all changed for Paul and his brothers and sisters. Mom and Dad had taken a night off to relax and enjoy each other's company by having a quiet dinner alone at a local restaurant. Something they liked to do occasionally just to give themselves some free time for just them. I would generally consider that a necessity for a healthy marriage. They loved their children and their life but needed to enjoy one another's company. On the way home they were involved in a terrible accident and neither one survived. Six children left homeless and without their parents. Indeed a grave tragedy.

There was no one to take the children, so they became wards of the State. What happened next was another tragedy in and of itself. There was no place to put them all together. They were sent to various orphanages wherever there was room for them. I suppose it was good that they all had someplace to go and be cared for but splitting them had to be very hard on them since they were all each other had left.

Some were placed together but Paul ended up alone and as the youngest it was a difficult transition for him. He was only three at that time. When Paul first told me this story his memories of this time were a bit faded as one would expect. I myself do not remember much if anything of when I was three years old. Most memories of that time would be false memories made possible by pictures and tales from a parent or sibling. Paul had no such advantage for remembering.

Paul spent 2 years in the care of the State and was moved to several orphanages throughout those two years. Because of the many children that need to be cared for in these places it is difficult to create a loving, nurturing environment for all these children, and although all the children suffer a little because of this the youngest have it the hardest. They really need that time with Mom reading a book and sitting on Dad's lap watching TV.

Coming soon, Chapter II, Changes