Wednesday, November 24, 2010

ROAD TRIP. . . .Day 2

Excellent waking up in my home-bed. . . .with brilliant sunshine. . . .temps mid-40s, breezy. . .

The siblings and their progeny will arrive this afternoon.  Holidays-at-Home are de riguer. . . .so my brother, older by twelve years, his wife and two sons, ages 7 and 5, live furthest away but, knowing my brother, they will be here early afternoon.  My sister, 10 years older,  her husband and  and two children, nephew 4 and niece 6, will come rolling up the dunes later afternoon.

I hadn't averted to it till I wrote this down. . .the grandchildren are 4, 5, 6, 7.  Three nephews and one niece. . .I tell her she is my favorite niece!  From the time they began to speak. . . .and like their uncle they haven't stopped. . .LOL. . .they started calling me "Unca Justi". . .coined by the oldest nephew, of course. . .and that does not change. . ..now it is O'Shea Family Tradition  which is sacrosanct. . . .via Kerry Irish, Burgundian French and Roma Gypsy blood!  Don't cross it.  ;-)

The kiddies love Unca Justi and think nothing is more fun ever than bursting into Unca Justi's room at the crack of dawn, especially at Christmas, and jumping into his bed.  Oooooh waaaaay.  However, since Peter arrived on the scene. . .and I always sleep in my birthday suit. . . .the urchins do not seem to catch on to "Knock on a closed door and do not enter until invited in!".  So,  introduce The Lock.   Never had to do that. . . .as I am the only one who sleeps upstairs. . . . .except when THEY are all here!  My parents have their own suite on first floor. . . apart from the rest of the house.

And there are the times when, for one reason or another, I 'forget' to lock the door. . . . .and in they came. .and then stopped, frozen in their tracks. . .stood there. . .mouths open with surprise. . ..to see Peter and I both in my large bed. . . . When we didn't yell at them, they unfroze and leapt into bed to "rough house". . . .lol  I do not drink alcohol so I am always "the safe person" to keep an eye on the kids and go walking with them in the Dunes and down to the beach.   I do not mind and no one makes a prisoner out of me. . . ;-)

So I await the next phase of the Holiday. . . .the Grand Arrivals. . . . .More to come. . . .;-)

      

10 comments:

J said...

Where does the Roma line come into your family?
What do you tell the kids when they find out you and Peter are sleeping in the buff?

JustinO'Shea said...

Like all the stories and tales of "gypsies, tramps and thieves" [Cher song. . ] the Roma connection with our family is "cloaked in mystery and intrigue". .. LOL

Certainly the Roma group/connection does not originate or migrate from Ireland. . there, those who were like Gypsies were called "Tinkers" and many of them are more British with red hair. . .hahaha.

No, the Roma enter our family via the French connection who somehow and someway got mixed with the Burgundian Bouviers. . .according to Mme Bouvier. We do know from some of the Bouviers who researched family lines some years ago that "some our out male ancestors were arrested and hanged as horse thieves" in France before the Bouvier migration to Canada.. where Grandmama was born, before the family moved to the Boston area.

How much of this is memory and how much from hearing the stories told I cannot, nor have i tried, say which is which. I do remember this quite clearly; I was pre-school age.

The Gypsy Queen and family were traveling in New England and the queen became sick and died in Massachusetts, close to the south-eastern part, near New Bedford, MA.
There was also a large Portuguese population there, mostly fishermen. with large families.

The Queen is and must be buried from the Cathedral. New Bedford is the Cathedral See of the Diocese, so her funeral was held there with Catholic burial from the Cathedral.

We all went to the funeral, led of course by Mme Bouvier. The funeral cortege arrived behind the hearse. No gypsy wagons of the past but large, black shiny Cadilacs! Many of them. The men were uniformly dressed in black; the women wore very multi-colored dresses and scarves, etc. The coffin, decked with flowers, was carried into the Cathedral on the shoulders of the closest males in the Queen's family. Then followed all the families, in order with husbands and wives and their many children, similarly dressed as the adults.

I can see this all in my mind. . .as I took it all in. . .observing who and what. . .especially the boys my age, and some of the really handsome older boys. We were taking them all in; they were doing the same to us.

I remember wishing I was part of their family. .. much closer part. .and I'd have been willingly abducted. . .hahahaa And I played Gypsy for some time after all this.

It seems this was some time after my 4th birthday. . .from which time I remember Peter, "my first boy friend". I made Peter play gypsy too and we got all dressed up with what we thought Gypsy men wore. . but we didn't "drive huge black Caddies".

With our longish brown hair and complexion we could have been gypsies, members of the "family Roma".

That's all I know. . most of this is memory, stories told. . .and played with. ;-)

JCinmeforever said...

Justin, Thank you for sharing a bit of your personal life. A peak at the wonderful thoughts and sites of the Holidays with family.

As for the birthday suite sleeping, I concur. Nothing is better. Ha! get it 'nothing' is better! I should say, there isn't anything more soothing that sleeping that way. Particularly with someone you love! Best wishes on the front...just lock the door so your not caught with your bum hangin' out. :)

JustinO'Shea said...

And what do I tell the kids when they find me and Peter sleeping in the buff? NOTHING. ;-)

They do not know if we are wearing underwear or not. . . we dont get up and parade around or get involved in great physical activity.

Peter and I are quite proper and circumspect. . .and the kids never say anything. . .If they did to their parents we'd hear about it.
hahahhaa. . .for sure. . . .ho ho ho
justin the egyptian

* some same the term 'gypsy' come from the name 'egyptian'. . .some one from Egypt. . .missing the "E'.
Legends say these 'Gyptians" Gypsies were persecuted because they gave shelter to Mary and Joseph and the Baby Jesus. . . under Herod in Israel. . . ."the flight into Egypt". . .were there pat-downs then? lol

JustinO'Shea said...

While we are circumspect we are not prudes in our family. ;-) The body isn't bad. . . in fact, some are better than others , , LOL

Gary Kelly said...

Just make sure the crack of dawn stays outside the window.

JustinO'Shea said...

and, faith and begoghah, where else would it be? ;-)

J said...

Great line, Gary! But one of these days the kids will get the idea that you two deserve to be tickled pink.

JustinO'Shea said...

And J. . .would that be called a group grope????

J said...
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