The year was 1976. We moved from our townhouse to a house just north of Warden and Finch. Our street was full of children of all ages so we had no trouble making new friends. My sister and I joined Girl Guides and my brother joined Beavers. There we made even more friends. We had such good times in that neighborhood!
There was a hydro field behind the houses accross the street which we often played in. We would follow it to our school but it also went east and west for a very long distance. There was a bus loop there for the TTC bus to turn around after stopping at our street (there were no houses further north). I remember my brother almost drowning there after a major downpour flooded the area. The water was approximately 5 feet deep and he slipped in. The older boy from accross the street actually jumped in and saved him. He was a hero that day! Unfortunately his brother was nothing like him. He was a bully once arrested for kicking an old lady because she was walking too slow. If we went accross Warden to the high school field we could get to a stream where we went for picnics which we did often. We used to walk to Bridlewood Mall and go to Towers which was actually quite a big department store (In 1990 Zellers bought the Quebec owned chain reopening some under the new name and closing others). I remember finding a pair of toe socks (a fad that year) there and thinking they would be a great present for my sister. Standing at the cash it occurred to me that she had webbed toes (her 2nd and 3rd toes, my Mom and cousin have them too) and couldn't wear them! Instead I found a poster for her room titled 'You Know You're a Slob When'. Number eight was 'your toes are stuck together'! I think she still has the poster. We used to get pogos and wander the mall. There was a restaurant there called Sneaky Petes that we liked to go to. They served their food in baskets on parchment paper and it was good!
Our Mom was also very busy as she volunteered to be the girl guide cookie convenor for our area. This meant that all of the cookies for our district were delivered to our house (our garage was jammed with boxes!) and our Mom arganized the distribution to the various troops. Somewhere with all that she had going on she became pregnant. Not too long after she found out that she was having twins and they would be identical (odds are 1 in 250). We were so excited!! My sister and I did our best to help out around the house. This was also the year that our Mom would marry our Step Dad. They felt that it was important (even though they had been together for 5 years or so) to marry before the babies were born. The wedding was a backyard wedding at my Aunt's house (she had moved to Leaside to nice older home). Our Mom looked ready to pop and she still had three and a half months to go! I don't recall there being a honeymoon although I think we all went to my Aunt's cottage for the weekend.
The babies were due at Halloween. By the beginning of September our Mom was admitted to the hospital where she was to remain on bed rest until the babies were born. The last day of September our Step Dad's brother and his wife had their second baby (a girl) and later that night our Mom's water broke and she went into labor. I remember sitting up all night waiting for the phone call from our Step Dad. It seemed like forever. He didn't get to go into the delivery room because there was concern that one baby was coming out feet first with the umbilical cord wrapped tightly around it's legs which was causing the heartbeat to fluctuate. just after 6am on October 1, 1977 the first twin was born; a red haired boy weighing 6lbs 10oz. Knowing that they were identical the second was obviously going to be a boy too. He came into the world 8 minutes later weighing 7lbs 6 oz. The doctor said he couldn't imagine how big they might have been had they been full term (most twins born at that time were 5lbs). Before long Mom and our new brothers were home and we were one big happy family. People will often indicate that they are just half brothers to us three original siblings but I have never looked at them that way. We grew up together and they are my brothers.
There were times right after they were born that we found it hard leaving to go to Dad's on weekends and later on we had to explain why they couldn't come. As they got older they understood that we had two Dad's and they just had one. They met our Dad over the years and have even been invited to his annual barbeque although they have not attended.
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