In the Beginning, (2/73)

I was born in the hot summer of 1976 at the Royal Alex hospital in Edmonton, Alberta. While the Son of Sam executed his first attack on 2 women in Pelham Bay and Bruce Jenner won the Gold in the decathlon at the Montreal Olympics my mother, Eileen, agonized in labor with me until I was finally born at 3:33 pm on July 30^th.

The first few months of my life were rather chaotic. I spent most of my time with my grandma, Lois, a stern farm woman and a seasoned nurse so I was left in very capable hands. My mother only cared about partying and men during that time of her life. She became seduced by the era of the late 70’s. A time of psychedelic drugs, go-go boots and free love. I was merely an inconvenience to her social life. My father wasn’t there much from what I have been told. I believe it was because he was not told immediately that I was his. Even his parents, my paternal grandparents, would not even know I existed until I was 2 months old.

Up until the time that I was 5 my mother was married twice once to Dan and once to my father, Brandon. My mother and Dan had a whirlwind relationship. You could say, Dan died unexpectedly. A moment that would haunt my mother for a lifetime. He committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a shot gun right in front of her. I could not even imagine what she must have felt or went through during that time. I believe he was a tortured man, possible undiagnosed mental illness. Not uncommon in those days.

“I have often wondered that if it had been a different time in pharmaceutical advancements and Dan received treatment, became healthy and lived for many years, how different many of our lives may have been. Or maybe we would still have found ourselves exactly where we are today.”