Pictures from the Past

Morgan and Rosetta

This photo was taken many years ago in Chicago when Rosetta was a new mother. And that kid in her arms--well, that's me.

Morgan and Phyllice

It's funny but at one time she told me I was born a bit late in her life because she had a stillborn little girl at least five years before I made my debut. The doctors said she wouldn't be able to have more children, but lo and behold, I guess I just wouldn't take no for an answer. Not only that, but I was followed by my sister Phyllice.

This is one of those stories that isn't in her book. Apparently I was supposed to be born in Detroit, but that was where that first child died. The baby was full term, but her  umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and they didn't discover it soon enough. Somewhere near the end of her term with me she panicked, worried that something would be wrong with me, too, and fled back to Chicago. I was born at 5 minutes after midnight and the hospital certificate says August 25 but my official birth certificate says August 26. The funny part of it is as dementia took hold when Rosetta was in her 90s and I asked about that first baby, she had no recollection of ever having any children besides my sister and me. I guess the mind has a way of wiping out unpleasant things as it moves toward 100. She made it until nearly 97.

If you didn't get a copy of her funny and sometimes heart-tugging memoir, CAN WE COME IN AND LAUGH, TOO?  the Kindle edition will be FREE at Amazon on March 14-15 and 16. Tell your friends, too, and remember a book makes a great gift. Think about Mother's Day which is not too far in the future, now.

MORGAN ST. JAMES
Rosetta's Daughter