More AMH 2020 Treasure Hunt Part 2*
#30: I am the thirtieth among his grandchildren.
Charles O. A. is a seventy five year old man who has three wives, about forty children and over one hundred grandchildren. At seventy five he is still alive and kicking. I am the thirtieth among his grandchildren. My grandfather lives in a small village called Kandaria in the western part of Kenya. One among his many good qualities is his dedication and passion for education. In addition to that, the contribution that he has made to ensure that his village is self-sustained speaks for itself....
#31: Fun Fact: Lebanon is not that well known.
Once upon a time, a young baby boy by the name of Bakri was born into the world. Bakri was raised among seven other siblings, in the somewhat wonderful and critically acclaimed city of Beirut. This city exists in a country called Lebanon. Fun fact: Lebanon is not that well known. In fact, chances are that ninety percent of all people reading this just googled the country. As a young boy, he had a dream, and that dream was to be a pilot....
# 32: rednecks southerns who like beer, fishing, and nascar.
To tell the story of the birth of my mother some information must be shared and a back story must be told. To begin my mother is a seventh generation Floridian, before that her family lived in the southern states of America since before the Revolutionary
War. Second, my grandma got pregnant in high school. Third, my family are a much of rednecks southerns who like beer, fishing, and nascar.
#33: My mother was a ballsy bitch
The year was 1972 and my mother was 19 and thought she could conquer the world.
She was a mere freshman at Rutger's (you know the troublemakers go to state schools) but she was beautiful with thick, long chocolate brown hair, porcelain skin and a body that could kill. Besides that, Torey was (and still is) the complete and total life of any party. Now I could tell you plenty of stories about my mom in college, like the time she fell down 20 steps into the basement of the TKE house wearing her Tau Kappa Alpha sweetheart crown, or about the time she cut her wrist on a chandelier while dancing on tables. But, this story from 1979 surely takes the cake. As mentioned previously, my mother was a ballsy bitch. She knew she could get away with murder, not that she ever tried or anything.
#34: The One with the Scary Nazi Stabbing Grandma with a Pitchfork
One afternoon, they heard a group of men approaching their land. They knew all about what was happening with Germany and that all the Jews were being taken to camps. As soon as they knew for sure that they were Nazi soldiers, they all went outside to hide in hope that the soldiers would not find them and would leave. The Nazi soldier began searching the house. They opened every single door and went into every single room looking for anyone they could find. Fortunately, everyone found a good hiding spot in the big hay stacks they had outside. Once the soldiers searched the entire house, they moved their way outside. Looking in the gardens and the farms, they finally ended up where all the hay stacks were. Two soldiers grabbed pick forks they found lying around and began to search. To search for people, the soldiers would stab the hay stacks with the pitchfork and would listen to hear sounds of anyone hiding. One by one, the soldiers began searching hay stacks they were suspicious of people hiding in. There were quite a lot of hay stacks so the odds that they would search the hay stacks my family members were hiding in were pretty good. As they continued the search, one of the soldiers approached the hay stack that my great grandmother was hiding in. She could hear the soldier walk toward the hay stack and then silence. She knew something was about to happen and was prepared to embrace whatever came her way. All of a sudden, the soldier stabbed the pitch fork straight through the hay stack and pierced my great grandmother’s leg right through.....
#35: Why The History Channel is Awesome.
A few years ago a t.v. mini-series came out called the Hafield’s and McCoy’s. When this started to air I learned that I am related to both of the families. 1 My great great great aunt was Roseanne McCoy. During this time these two families disliked eachother so much it almost led to a war. My aunt Roseanne forbid her families wishes and decided to enter a courtship with Johnson Hatfield. This relationship set the feud overboard and battles started to happen.
#36: She didnt play the radio what so ever.
The story my grandmother told me about one time was that legend has it that in the year of 1981 my grandfather had buried a human being. My grandma was a very smart, sophisticated, wise woman. She didnt play the radio what so ever. She will give you anything you want if you asked for it. Yeah she cursed and fuss but it was all out of love.
#37: For the most part his childhood was solid
My grandfatherwas born June 18th, 1945. For the most part his childhood was solid. His parents were rich and lived in the Eastern Manhattan area. His dad was top dog in the stock market and was a business owner on the side for their family golf shop. John’s mother had four other children, so she was mainly a housewife at home. My grandfather’s siblings were all close in age, so once they all hit junior high and high school, my grandmother took up the job as being a secretary at an insurance company close to home.
#38: Bottom line, she wanted to be a parent.
They lived on Oahu in a small trailer like house, being all they could afford. My mom was never able to have kids and had previously been a foster parent so several children. She's told me so many stories of all the children she had fostered and "big sisters" 1 she had been to under privileged kids. Bottom line, she wanted to be a parent. When she lived in Hawaii, behind her house was this Chinese restaurant that she had strange connection with. She told me that whenever she had enough money she would go there as often as she could. She never knew why she was so drawn to the hole in the wall restaurant. The owners had several children that my mom said some days she would just watch them play outside. After doing this for several years and then moving back to the mainland, and divorcing her husband she then realized she was meant to adopt a child from China.
#39: dandelions floated through the air in the windy city.
There is always a story that is mentioned humorously from time to time in family gatherings, in which we always enjoy talking about because it was very odd and humorous too many. It took place around 1975 in the outskirts of Chicago at my great grandmothers house. During this year, my grandfather, great aunt, great grandfather and grandma were living in the house and my great uncle was home from his naval base for break. It was a perfect afternoon out, the weather wasn’t too hot nor, was it too cold and the dandelions floated through the air in the windy city. My great grandmother would wake up and cook breakfast for everyone then go run errands, bake, and clean up the house a little bit. Towards evening time when the weather started to cool down, just before millions of lightning bugs would come out, my great uncle was outside working on his car with his girlfriend who was patiently waiting for him to figure out the problem with his car.
#40: The One With Donuts
The ride to Krispy Cream started out as an ordinary 5 o’clock drive. It was a perfect day out that day, 82 degrees and sunny, a rarity around Lake Erie. My dad was playing sports talk radio; they were talking about the Cleveland Indians that day. I couldn’t stand listening to that radio station because it was so boring just listening to them talking about the horrific Cleveland sports teams. About 25 minutes go by and we finally get to the Krispy Cream donut shop. We get a dozen hot glazed donuts. My dad was nice that day and let me have one right when we got them and it happened to be delicious. I would have asked for another one, but I thought I would save some for the rest of my family.
#41: 3 errors and 2 strikeouts
Before I was born, my dad was a professional baseball player. He played high school ball in a small town in Pennsylvania, then played college baseball at James Madison University, and ultimately he got drafted by the Kansas City Royals. After getting drafted, he was put on a team called the Memphis Chicks, which is a Double A affiliate of the royals. My dad tells me a story about a time on this team, that what seemed like the worst possible day, turned into one of the most memorable moments of his life. One hot day in Memphis, my dad was dreading a game in particular. He invited a girl to come watch the game, and she was going to bring her parents with her too. So the day of, he was pretty nervous because he wanted to do well in front of her and her family. As the game started, he took his position on the field, in clear vision of everyone in the stands. In the first inning of the game, a ball is hit straight to my dad at second base, and he misplayed it. Error. On his at bat of the game, he took three straight pitches down the gut. Strikeout. He then takes the field again, a ball is hit to him, another error. He gets up to the plate, three strikes, another strikeout. As a total, he make 3 errors and 2 strikeouts going into the last inning. What a terrible way to impress the girl and her family, he was crushed. But it was not over….
#42: Scary Camp Story
In a little town that I grew up in called Craig, Colorado there was a little myth or legend that once you were old enough you were supposed to go campout on top of Cathy Cesare’s, which was named after a girl that died while sledding down the mountain and was hit by a car. The legend goes that while you are camping on the mountain that you would often hear her or see her appear climbing up the mountain with her sled because she would never reach the bottom. This legend was told to me by my father as he said that he had to do this with his father when he was eight years old, which was in 1979.
#43: Goodbye Dad.
Growing up I looked up to my parents as a successful couple. Meeting in Barranquilla Colombia, it must have been beautiful to go on dates at the beach or even just walk through the streets of the beautiful Colombian city. I wondered how they met; my grandpa was known to be a very strict, serious man. My grandmother was not around because she passed away when my mom was only fifteen years old, which was very difficult for my mother. My mom described my grandmother as a very humble, jokester character. My mom is the last child of seven brothers and sisters, she was the youngest of the three girls and they all had extreme differences when it came to personality. My mom has a very attractive personality and always had lots of friends; my aunts were not as sociable because they got their personality from my grandfather’s side. My grandfather made a rule if the oldest daughter did not go out the youngest one being my mom could not go. My mom always wanted to go out and couldn’t because the oldest did not want to and instead she played with dolls until she was fifteen to avoid boredom. My mom had a friend called Vivian whose parents were wealthy, and she wanted to throw a party for her eighteen birthday. My mother had asked in advance for permission to attend the party, the day of the party, my mom got dressed and was very excited to attend the party because Vivian’s house was on the beach. My grandfather always played the crossword puzzles, and sat on a rocking chair beside the living room. My mom finally got finished getting dressed. As she was approaching my grandfather to say ‘goodbye dad’, he asked her where she was going, when she said Vivian’s party my grandfather said that she was not going….
#44: The Cradle
On June 6th, 1934 my grandma Dolores June Fortman was born in Chicago, Illinois. She was given up for adoption upon her birth in the hospital. Soon after this, my great grandparents who lived in Wheaton, Illinois adopted her through the first adoption agency to ever open in the Chicago area called The Cradle. As my grandma grew up, she often wondered whom her birth mom really was and if she could ever find her. Although during the time period which my grandma was born, through the Great Depression, it was normal and expected for poor single women to give up their babies. However, my grandma never gave up on the idea of finding out the truth about her birth mother.On The Cradle’s (adoption agency) 75th Anniversary, the company invited all the kids who were adopted through their agency back for a reunion. My grandma brought our whole family to the reunion to celebrate her adoption, and hopefully find out more about her birth mother. We soon found out that the adoption agency had a photocopy of my grandma’s adoption record....
