Back In The Beginning...

When I first met Aunt Felicia, Mom had just found her biological mother. (My mother Judy was adopted by an Italian couple, Sadie & Gino Nofri.) My biological grandmother Enid Trammell had adopted Felicia later in life.

When we went to Detroit to visit Gramma Enid, they lived in a two-story house typical of the Detroit area. Aunt Felicia is a bit less than 11 months older than I, and I think I was about 12 years old at the time. My sister Lori and brother Jeff were also along for the trip. Being close in age, Lori and I hit it off with Aunt Felicia right away.

I remember distinctly on that first visit that Lori & I were up in Aunt Felicia's room talking with her while the adults were talking downstairs. Aunt Felicia sang Cher's "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden" for us. Her voice was very pretty, but she was a bit shy about it. I never quite understood why, but it was what it was. It's funny, but I think God must have sung that song to her just before she was sent to Earth to be born sometimes...sigh.

The rest of that visit was just getting to know each other, and getting to know our grandmother. We talked about the things young teens talk about - bands, TV shows, crushes, etc. It was a good visit, and I think we were all happy for it. After that, we returned home to Beloit, WI and our regular lives. There was no internet then, and long distance calls were very expensive, so we would only briefly say "hi" on the phone until our next visit, none of us being great letter writers at the time.

For that era, things were off to a good start.

Lori-Felicia-Jeff-Dan 1976 Left-to-right

Dan