Form I exemplars

moving to New York City

It was 1947. just the end of WWII, when John O.'s father came to him after he was returning home from school on a Thursday afternoon and declared, "Son, your mother is divorcing me." Age 9, John was confused.  He knew his parents were not getting along for whatever reason, but he was just learning that it meant the marriage was over.  He talked with his mother at dinnertime about what would happen now.  The children and she were to be relegated to the second floor to live, until the house was sold and the proceeds awarded by the court to her.

Making her plans for becoming a legal secretary, perhaps even a lawyer, John's mom decided to pursue a degree in law; she already had a bachelors degree.  But she did not want to remain in Buffalo, New York, because she felt she had to start anew someplace else.  The times were such getting a divorce was tantamount to becoming a social pariah--it just was not done in those days.

She had recently completed a B.A. at University of Buffalo; and with one of her professor's connections, she was able to be accepted quickly into law school at New York University.  The family had visited New York several times and with the promise of starting-over with law-degree training, she decided to jump at the chance forthwith.

"Sheila, would you go with me to find an apartment we could rent there?" she asked her young daughter of 17.  Her daughter of 20 was already engaged to a bus driver in Buffalo and would not make the move with Sheila, John and her--that was to comprise the new family--because the date had already been set for the wedding.

The day to journey to New York and look over the prospect for the move had been set.  The trip would last up to a week, money holding out.  John joined his sister and Mom in prayer through the next days before the two would depart by train to New York.  He also was excited about the prospect of going to New York to live, because he already suffered each winter from the frigid cold of Buffalo weather that would incapacitate him in bed for at a month during the long below freezing weather.

The very day Mother and daughter were to board the train, John ran to the makeshift kitchen on the home's second floor they made for themselves (while his father domiciled on the first floor, where his law office at home was also located), and announced boldly, "I woke up with a vision that you'll find a place in Manhattan.  Don't worry so much!  You'll come across an intersection.  One side is the apartment building--it's about four or five stories high, but there's a place for rent on the first floor.  Actually, you don't get to it by the front entrance of the building, but there's a side entrance you have to go through.  And, Sheila, there's a high school a few blocks away up a hill aways.  But there's a really large building on the other side just opposite where the apartment is where people live, though it's different from an apartment building.  That's the area I saw in my mind.  Nothing more was said about John's imagining before Mother and daughter were on their way to New York.

They came back with news that they leased an apartment.  It was more than my Mother wanted to pay but with the court settlement felt we could live there for awhile.  It matched John's vision to a 'T'.  And the three of them moved to that apartment.  Their neighbors soon informed the newly composed family that they were living in a city rent-controlled unit and the rent was reduced by two-thirds of the initial price.  John loved the education he received at the private schools he attended through high school; and after that vision dedicated his life to do Christian service.

That  "large building people lived in but was not an apartment" turned out to be an old-folks home.

additions: 12/  /19