A FAMILY STORY
In the hallway there was a bookcase with many faded paperbacks, but then, there was the brand new Book of Knowledge. I would open a volume and smell the glossy new pages and flip through reading about anything that came up. I also liked to rummage through drawers in my house, and I feel certain that is where I first found the photo album, layered under the expired passports, report cards from previous years, old postcards.
Here I am, holding onto the photo album. I wondered who were the people in these ancient photos, but never thought to ask, and the photo album stayed there, nested in its drawer until a time came when it was possible to ask.
I was fascinated...who were these odd looking old people....
Florida Grandma (Helen) was a whirlwind of energy. She played tennis everyday at Flamingo Park in Miami Beach. My sister and I visited every winter. We swam in the pool at the apartment building. We slept in Florida Grandpa's (Sam) art studio amongst his oil paints, and were careful not to knock over any of the paintings leaning against the wall. I would sit with my many library books in the sunny room amongst the paintings and oil paint reading each afternoon. Every morning we would traipse to the tennis court to learn to play tennis, something I never really succeeded at accomplishing.
Conversations with Helen and Sam about Romania or Poland where they were born were rare, if at all. Sam used to say he was from "Minsk, Pinsk, or somewhere like that", without further elaboration. When my brother interviewed Sam about his childhood for a school project Sam wrote "childhood memories not very pleasant". Outside of suppporting Haddassah I did not see any vestiges of Jewish practices and there were never any conversations about the extended family. My grandparent's aunts, uncles and cousins just were never mentioned.
Pastel drawing of the Markowitz (Marcovici) children, by Elizabeth Matheny (Julia's sister and great-granddaughter of Pauline and Marco)