My parents Joe and Sue were born and raised in Prague, Czechoslovakia. But surprise, surprise, they grew up not to keen on the idea of communism and defected in 1967, a year before Russian tanks rolled through the town crushing the Prague Spring. I came along four years later and my sister Judy was born two years after me.
My dad owned his own Real Estate and Insurance business until he retired. He’s a prime example of street smarts over book learning. No university education. He did a required stint with the Czech army and attended a trade school for engine maintenance in Prague. But once he arrived here, he drove a few trucks, some buses, got his real estate licence and opened his own office. Hard to argue with success of a guy who retired at 50.
My mom’s a medical technologist. Quite different from my dad. She’s the busy beaver type always staying busy with some new course or hobby. Stain glass making. Astrology. Weaving. She even took a class on belly dancing once. Getting her to slow down won’t be easy. I’m betting she’ll work forever.
As for my sister, the short story is we hated each other as kids like many siblings do. For me, I think it had something to with her crying wolf a lot. She’d start wailing away before I even got a chance to smack her once and I’d end up in trouble without even having the satisfaction of having made her cry honestly. We’ve grown out of it and get along pretty well now.
