I Love My Parents

This might turn out to be a long read.

My parents were wonderful to my brother and I. How they managed to put up with us little shits is beyond me. lol But having found out what lives they had before they met each other is mind blowing to say the least. I`ll start with my father. He was married before and had two children with his first wife. He grew up on a dairy farm that was lost because of the depression. He then decided to enlist in the army to help out financially. His then wife told him in no uncertain terms that if he joined the army she would leave him. He did and she left him. Taking the two kids with her and filed for divorce. When he got out of the army he couldn`t find his children anywhere. Apparently she got remarried and moved away.

Our mother was born out west with a total of 16 siblings. Moved to Ontario with her sister. Our mother was married to an abuser from what we`ve heard. She had three children with him. She wanted out of the marriage which he agreed to. But in those days a woman had a hard time looking after one child, let alone three. So the courts granted him with custody which wasn`t long after he put them up for adoption. In today`s phrasing "they cramped his style" Her heart must have been crushed if she knew about it.

My brother and I knew none of this until they day of her funeral. My aunt who is known for her big mouth. (my fathers words for her) lol When hearing this we all just stood there dumbfounded. It took some digging on my wife`s part because she does genealogy to get some answers. It was true. It was like a punch in the chest knowing what our parents had been through.