2019 Week 2: Childhood Memories – A Walk Back in Time.
Most of us have childhood memories. Some good. Some bad. Some make us laugh. Some make us cry, but we have them. This week’s Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge topic gives us a chance to talk about them. #MFRWauthor Link to 2017 Childhood Memory post.
I’m walking back in time today with a bittersweet memory of my oldest brother, Bob. I’m a middle child between two brothers with a nine-year span between me and the oldest. A brother born between us passed away as an infant, and I have a brother three years younger than me. I don’t mention my bad-to-the-bone troublemaking older brother often, but that isn’t why I don’t talk about him. I didn’t know him. My dad sent him away when I was only five or six.
My dad wanted to get him out of Detroit and away from the gang-like life he wanted to live. Instead of dealing with him, he let my stern grandma straighten him out in her little village where she lived on a lake in Northern Michigan. The last thing my brother needed was a small town to control, and a grandmother who couldn’t handle him. Via hearsay, he’d found the bad of the bad to hang with while living there until he joined the Army.
My memory isn’t about the bad in him. It’s about him being my big brother, my protector, and the day Dad sent him away. I can’t remember the goings-on before we piled out the door to go to Michigan Central Station. It’s possible they never told me this would be forever, but I figured it out.
My memory is about saying good-bye to my brother and walking through the train station holding his hand. He got on the train. Just like that, we left, but I kept pulling my mom or dad’s hand, lagging back, and yelling that we had to wait for Bob. Then we left. If one of them hadn’t had my hand, I might’ve run back to grab him off the train or get on and go with him.
Brian W. Schaller [FAL], from Wikimedia Commons
I grew up without my oldest brother, but I’ll cut it off by saying we stayed in contact throughout my teen and adult life. He’d had a rough life and lived to be a senior adult though died at a young age by today’s standards. I’m the one who has his ashes. Oddly, he had made his home in Northern Michigan near to where he’d been sent to live with our grandma.
This old train station has quite a history. Are you interested in knowing if this magnificent building is still standing? You’ll find updated information at the link below.
From Dan Austin at Historic Detroit.Org:
For 75 years, the depot shipped Detroiters off to war, brought them home, took them on vacation and sent them off to visit Grandma.
Oh, if they only knew…
Thank you for reading.
This is a blog hop, baby. We have new participants this year! What happens when they walk back in time to share a childhood memory? Let’s find out HERE.
Michigan Central Station, Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Credit: Brian W. Schaller
Brother and sister Credit: Pixaba
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel 
14 thoughts on “#MFRWauthor Week 2~Childhood Memories #WritersLife”
Maxima
Reblogged this on Spiritual Challenges.
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Thanks so much for the Reblog, Maxima. ❤
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Teagan R. Geneviene
Oh Mary… what a touching, heartbreaking story.
I had similar when my grandparents sent away someone who felt like a brother to me. Nothing was ever the same after that.
Hugs on the wing.
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
People do what they believe is right and don’t always know, or care, how much it hurts others. This must’ve been the case with your grandparents too. There would be no way I’d allow my husband to send one of my kids away like that. In that day and age, my dad ruled the roost. Pardon the cliché. Thank you for reading, Teagan.
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Kate Hill (@katehillromance)
This shows how important family is, whether you live under the same roof or not. Thank you for sharing this memory.
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Hi, Kate. Yes, I agree with you. This memory was one of the first to pop into my head this week. I had to share it. Thank you for reading.
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Ellie Mack
So sad. Very touching and poignant. I am glad you have his ashes.
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Hi, Ellie, Thank you. I am glad, too. Congratulations on your brand-new release- Break Line. And Happy Birthday!
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D. Wallace Peach
This is so sad, Mary. My heart aches. I know that parents sometimes are at a loss of what to do, but in hindsight, it doesn’t seem worth the pain. I’m so glad that you and your brother remained connected, though I know it wasn’t the same. A moving post. Thanks for sharing. Hugs ❤
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
My mom was the one who suffered silently. Once, she, my younger brother, and I went up to visit my grandma alone, and we took the train back home to Detroit. I don’t remember anything about the trip except riding the train. There were times we went up north as a family, and I spent as much time as I could with my brother, so I got to “visit” him. I didn’t remember some of that until after I wrote the post.
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D. Wallace Peach
Family estrangement is so painful, Mary. I don’t know if we ever really recover fully from the loss. ❤
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
😦 So true, Diana.
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Rhonda Gilmour writing romance as Sadira Stone
What a sad memory! I’m glad you were able to stay in touch with your brother.
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
I think my younger brother was too young to remember going to the train station, but he remembered another childhood episode that surprised me he’d remember at a young age. I’ll have to ask him. Thanks for stopping by, Rhonda/Sadira.
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