Once upon a time a guy from Belmont by way of Warren Rhode Island met a pretty freckle-faced girl from Milton at Vesper George School of Art in Boston and they created 11 children.
My Mum made all of our wedding dresses and the bridesmaid dresses. I'm not a fan of frilly girly stuff and Mum was on her last nerve trying to mark the hem. My father just wanted to document the fact that I was wearing a dress.
They devoted all of their time to raising these children in a gem of a town called Bedford, MA., which was not easy and required much sacrifice, yet they never complained, and quite frankly, even made it fun.
By example, they showed these 11 children that family always came first, that if you wanted something, you must work hard for it,that the right thing to do was often the hardest thing to do. Those 11 children learned the true meaning of integrity.
The parents taught those 11 kids to figure things out on their own. When those 11 kids got out of line, they asked them, "Who do you think you are?" to remind them that those 11 kids were not above reproach, that they must be held accountable for their actions; that they must do the right thing when all of the other options tempted them to do something else.
That guy from Belmont and that girl from Milton taught those 11 kids how to swim and how to skate. The guy built a rink in the back yard and his daughters pretended they were Dorothy Hamel while his boys practiced the Bobby Orr dive in front of the net.
The parents taught those 11 kids how to ride a bike and insisted that they share 2 bikes among them. They took them on vacations to Cape Cod, and on the hottest days, they piled the kids into a Gran Torino Station Wagon to take them to Bedford Farms for ice cream. Other times we went apple-picking and sledding in a huge toboggan down a hill on 2A in Lexington.
Some of the girls learned how to sew (not this one) and how to cook and the boys learned how to cut grass and to always be a gentleman. We all learned how to do laundry and pick weeds out of the garden.We were taught that we must be good citizens, honor the Greatest Generation and "shut off the lights when no one was in a room, for God's sake!"
These 11 kids watched their parents take care of elderly relatives and tried to follow the example set for them. In the past few years, these 11 kids slowly transitioned into the caregiver role, that difficult time when adult children assist parents through unwelcomed life challenges.
Two years ago, those 11 children had to say good-bye to that guy from Belmont by way of Warren Rhode Island.
Today, at 4:32, that guy from Belmont by way of Rhode Island made a phone call to a pretty freckle-faced girl from Milton who was resting peacefully in a bed at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, and said, "Hey Ditto, I'm out front" and she left those 11 kids, many of whom happened to be at her bed-side, and reunited with that handsome guy, as well as her parents and cousins and friends, and a little baby boy (#12) whom her 11 kids never met but always mourned.
This kid, the 5th of those 11 Hanley kids, is sad, yet honored to be a part of the team of those 11 kids who took care of that guy from Belmont and that freckle-faced girl from Milton.
Connie Kearney Hanley, I wish I had your spine. You never gave in to the pressure of what was easy in the moment. You understood your duty to raise children to be self sufficient and compassionate. You and Dad gave so much more than you expected in return.
I'm sorta sorry about that time you were yelling at me for coming home late after a few "cream sodas" with my friends and I interrupted you (when you were quite frankly, "rippin me a new one") to say that I could eat beans off of your head. I didn't mean to be disrespectful, but in that moment, me, being 5'11, looking at the top of your head (you at 5'2" on a good day), it just seemed logical, and to me,very funny. I apologize for any disrespect.
I love you with all of my heart and I am grateful beyond imagination that God plucked me from a line of millions to be part of your history.
RIP, Mum. I'm glad you are with Dad now. Thanks for giving me so many brothers and sisters to lean on.
Love #5