Lee Henry was born December 23, 1946, at the same maternity home, where Steve had been born. The other babies born earlier were a couple of days old and went home for Christmas, but Lee and I had to stay. Lee was a beautiful baby. His hair was long and over his face and the doctor wanted to cut his hair. Lee was a contented baby. It was lonely and I thought it was the worst Christmas I had ever had. The day after Christmas, when it was time for breakfast, I could smell bacon. I was hungry. When the breakfast tray came there wasn’t any bacon. I ask the lady in charge if she had forgotten the bacon and she replied she only cooked enough to flavor the eggs. I still think of that sometimes when I smell bacon cooking.
During the war, you couldn’t purchase anything made with metal. We had received a Montgomery Ward catalogue. It displayed a portable sewing machine, but underneath was written, “not available”. We decided to order it anyway and sent the check. We never heard anything back and the check wasn’t cashed. While I was in the maternity home, the sewing machine came and Jess put it in front of the Christmas tree. I was released from the maternity home, after eight days and was going to stay with my mother. It was cold and I wanted to see Steve. Jess insisted that we go home first. I was out of sorts. I didn’t want to go to that cold home. Jess instead and I stepped inside the door and saw the sewing machine. I know it was one of the best Christmas presents ever. I had Lee Henry and a sewing machine. That sewing machine was still in good condition but it was misplaced when I moved down from Newdale.
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