Grandma Jeanette and her sister Kitty were close in age and their good humored, wise cracking competition stretched well into adulthood.
They both got married and pregnant with their first children in their early twenties and continued to live in the same Brooklyn neighborhood. Kitty’s baby was due three months before Jeanette’s. But Kitty’s due date came and went and nothing happened. Day after day Jeanette called to check: “What’s taking you so long? Any signs of labor yet?”
“Not too many babies are born on their due date, you know. You’ll see for yourself soon enough, now leave me alone!” And Kitty would hang up the phone.
Finally after two weeks of enduring this, Kitty’s son Jerry was born and all was well. But you can be sure that as Jeanette’s due date approached Kitty couldn’t wait to return the favor of annoying her sister.
On February 25th, 1924, Jeanette’s due date, Kitty promptly called at 8:00 in the morning and taunted, “So, are you having your baby today, smarty pants?”
“I sure am!” Jeanette triumphantly cried out. “We’re on the way to the hospital right now!”
For years Grandma Jeanette proudly told this story about how my father, Arthur, was born on his due date, and added, “Yeah, and that guy’s always been in a hurry ever since!”
(l-r) Grandma Jeanette, Cindy, her son Jeremy
(also born on his due date) and her father, Arthur
Cindy Rivka Marshall will tell family stories and offer a workshop “In the Moment: Capturing a Memory through Storytelling” at Close to Home: Autobiographies, Memoirs and Family Stories for Young Readers Conference for teachers of grades 3-8 and school librarians at the John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA on Wednesday, March 29, 2017