Parlor Games

My mom had a secret; she died with it. She had no idea that a crazy parlor game, Ancestry, would be developed. What if she had known about Ancestry? Would she have told me?

I didn’t know until my son gave me a very special Mother’s Day gift that rocked my world and altered my self-perception at age 77, Ancestry. By this time, all the major players were gone. Remaining were tens of cousins I had yet to meet who knew nothing of the liaison between Mom and Johnny

I remember way way way back visiting a pink house with my mom, dad, and little sister. A new cousin named Spanky confirmed that was Johnny’s home.

Johnny, Mom’s boss, was the business agent for the Teamsters union in Newark. He didn’t live long: he disappeared at age 50 leaving his wife and her son whom he adopted. Johnny had no biological children—except me! (Well, I haven’t returned to Ancestry: siblings may have surfaced; I’m not interested.)

Consensual? A Me-Too? That, I’d like to know. Who doesn’t want to believe they were conceived in love?

Mom died at 68; her body ravaged by cancer, heart disease, and maybe guilt and fear. If she were here today I would tell her, “it’s okay Mom. It happens to all of us.”