Remembering a daughter and a husband on a grief day

There’s no shortage of joy in our home here in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood for my dear wife Karen and I, and Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle, too. We hope that the happiness with life radiates out to adult children Daryl and Elisabeth as well. Of course we have our share of pain…

And it was you

Once upon a time, a dad-to-be climbed into bed after another night of work and fell asleep to the world. After five or so hours, the mom-to-be shook her husband’s shoulder. Not used to opening his eyes this early in the day, the man may have grunted. The woman said it was time. The man…

A family resemblance can sneak up and floor you

Sometimes the pieces to complete a startling vision sit pages apart in the scrapbook of your mind. For all my life, I’ve been comfortable with the premise that out of us three kids, my youngest sister, Dory, had the most family resemblance to either of our parents. My sister Fran, the middle one, kind of…

I find a pile of old family photos, and here come the memories

I found a bounty of photographs I didn’t even know I had yesterday. I’ve been thinking that my sisters, Fran and Dory, were the keepers of the really good stuff. Apparently there were plenty of Kodak moments to go around. There’s been a volume somebody at sometime put together for me, hiding in a never-used…

In March, there were three birthdays in our house

My older younger sister celebrates an almost-milestone birthday today. Happy birthday, Frannie! Her big day used to start a parade of cake and candles when we were growing up. Father Frank was born on March 13; mom Dolores on March 21. Youngest sibling Dory (September) and oldest sibling me got to sing and eat. That…

On my 56th birthday, I wonder about my birth day

I just googled This Date in History for Dec. 14, 1957. The site dayoftheweek.org tells me it was a Saturday. A slow day, according to historyorb.com. A play titled “Most Happy Fella” closed after 678 performances at New York City’s Imperial Theater. “Rumple” closed at the Alvin Theater after 45 performances. An American author by…

It’s time to take a trip down the Bialczak Memory Lane

My sister Frannie has been on a mission lately. She wants some sort of hard copy to chronicle our family. It’s been years now that Fran, Dory and I have been on our own, Bialczak-wise. Our parents, Dolores and Frank, have been gone for a decade now. Frank was an only child. Mom’s older sister,…