The relationship my father had with his sister Leona and brother Ray was sacred, strong and stoic. Whatever pain they endured as children growing fatherless during the depression, (father was killed when my dad was 5) they kept to themselves. They loved deeply but were not overtly demonstrative. When the same qualities reared in my sisters and I, my dad always said "It;s a Leavitt thing". I always took it as a compliment.

My mothers' family was and remains, equally strong but the exact opposite. They are accepting of all, demonstrative as hell, and in 1959 accepted my dad without question. It was something he never took lightly.

I think it's fair to say that while my my father fell in love with my mom, he also fell in love with her family and either way I have inherited the best of both.

This is the story of how my sisters and I came to be as told to me by my dad. " I met your mother at a dance when I was in the army. I asked her to dance and she accepted. At some point we realized that the song had ended some time ago and we were the only ones on the floor, apparently dancing to our own music. I knew at that moment I loved her. She told me that she was 19. I was 24 and afraid that she or her family,  would think I was too old for her, so shaved 2 years off my age . A year later, it was her birthday and I couldn't wait to pick her up. When I got there she was crying and inconsolable. My heart fell into my stomach. I was certain that this was the end. I wanted to throw up but found the strength to ask what was wrong. She replied, I'm not 20 today, I'm turning 18. I was so relieved I laughed and told her, it's OK I'm not really 24, I'm 26." The rest as they say, is history.