For the Love of a Son ''The Last Christmas Card'': ''The Last Christmas Card''

By Anita Tyrell

Anita Tyrell was born in Detroit, Michigan.
Was raised in Warren, Michigan.
Her high school year book said she would be an Author one day.
She married in 1966 and her husband career moved them to Ohio. There she raised three children. Supported her husband coaching career. Now being retired is her time to shine the Lord has given her a reason to write and she hopes that others will benefit from her story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479729005

Anita Tyrell

Anita Tyrell was born in Detroit, Michigan. Was raised in Warren, Michigan. Her high school year book said she would be an Author one day. She married in 1966 and her husband career moved them to Ohio. There she raised three children. Supported her husband coaching career. Now being retired is her time to shine the Lord has given her a reason to write and she hopes that others will benefi t from her story.

Book preview

A SON

CHAPTER ONE

1967

THE WEATHER IN MICHIGAN WAS ALWAYS UNPREDICTABLE IN FEBRUARY. IT HAD SNOWED YESTERDAY AND IT WAS GETTING CLOSE TO THE DAY OUR FIRST BABY WOULD BE BORN. I HAD ABOUT TWO WEEKS AT LEAST I THOUGHT SO UNTIL THIS MORNING WHEN MY MOTHER TOOK ME TO SEE THE DOCTOR WHEN MY EXAM WAS OVER HE TOLD MY MOTHER TO FIX ME A LIGHT LUNCH AND IF I HADN’T CALLED HIM BY 7:00 PM HE WANTED TO KNOW WHERE I WAS AND HOW I WAS DOING.

I CALLED DENNIS AT WORK AND TOLD HIM WHAT THE DOCTOR SAID AND HE WAS SO SURPRISED. WELL I HAD A LIGHT LUNCH ABOUT TWO O’CLOCK AND WHEN I GOT UP TO TEND TO MY T.V. TRAY THE BABY DECIDED TO TURN OVER. I GRABBED MY STOMACH AND LOOKED AT MY MOM. SHE SAID I SHOULD CALL THE DOCTOR. HE SAID I HAD BEEN DIALED IN THE MORNING ABOUT 4CM AND I SHOULD COME RIGHT AWAY TO THE HOSPITAL I CALLED DENNIS WHO LEFT WORK. THE HOSPITAL WASN’T FAR FROM MY MOM AND DAD’S HOUSE SO IT WAS A QUICK TRIP. THE DOCTOR GAVE ME A SHOT OF SOMETHING AND PUT ME TO SLEEP. I FELT SOME ONE WIPING MY FOREHEAD AND LOOKED UP TO SEE DENNIS SMILING AT ME. IT’S A BOY HE SAID

HE SAID SMILING SO BIG IT ALMOST SWALLOWED HIS FACE. A BOY! WE ONLY HAD ONE BOY IN THE FAMILY THAT WAS MY NEPHEW. I HAD FOUR SISTERS AND THREE NIECES WOW A BOY. OUR FATHERS DIDN’T HAVE A SON NAMED AFTER THEM SO WE DECIDED TO NAME HIM CHARLES CASS BAROWICZ FOR OUR FATHERS. MY FATHERS NAME WAS CHARLES AND HIS WAS CASS. THEY WERE BOTH THRILLED.

THE NEXT MORNING A DOCTOR WALKED IN I DIDN’T KNOW WITH NEWS I WASN’T TOLD THE DAY BEFORE. YOU SEE BACK IN 1967 MOTHERS WEREN’T ALLOWED TO SEE THEIR BABIES UNTIL TWENTY FOUR HOURS AFTER THE BIRTH. I WAS SO SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT CHARLES HAD WHAT THEY CALLED CLUB FEET. HIS LITTLE FEET WERE TURNED IN AND THE HEALS DIDN’T LOOK RIGHT. HE WOULD HAVE TO HAVE CAST PUT ON THEM TO STRAIGHTEN THEM OUT. THE DOCTOR WAS VERY KIND SAID, THEIR WASN’T ANYTHING TO BE WORRIED ABOUT THAT AS LONG AS IT WASN’T BRAIN DAMAGE THEY COULD FIX ANYTHING. WE TOOK CHARLES HOME THE FIFTH DAY THEN STARTED HIS LONG JOURNEY WHICH WOULD SOME DAY LEAD TO SURGERY. HIS FIRST FEW MONTHS WERE VERY BUSY WITH DOCTORS VISITS EVERY TWO WEEKS HE HAD HIS CAST CHANGED THEY WERE TRYING TO BRING HIS FEET DOWN WHERE THEY BELONGED SO HE WOULD WALK RIGHT SOME DAY.

NEW BEGINNINGS

CHAPTER TWO

1968

WE HAD LIVED IN OUR APARTMENT FOR SIX MONTHS WHEN THE LANDLORD TOLD US WE HAD TO MOVE THEY DIDN’T ALLOW CHILDREN. NOW WHERE WOULD WE GO? WE WENT HOUSE HUNTING AND FOUND NEW TOWNHOUSES WERE BEING BUILT FURTHER OUT IN THE SUBBURS THEY WOULD NOT BE DONE FOR ANOTHER THREE MONTHS. WE TALKED TO MY MOM AND DAD (CHARLES AND ETHEL TYRELL) THEY SAID, WE COULD MOVE IN WITH THEM. CHARLES WAS NINE MONTHES OLD THERE WAS A LOT OF UNREST IN THE COUNTRY AT THIS TIME.

MY THIRD SISTER ROBERTA’S HUSBAND STEVE WAS DRAFTED AND DECIDED TO GO INTO THE NATIONAL GUARD. HE WAS SENT TO DETROIT WHERE RIOTS HAD BEEN BREWING FOR ABOUT FOUR WEEKS. ONE MORNING AFTER DAD AND DENNIS HAD GONE TO WORK THERE WAS A LOUD NOISE OUT SIDE. THE HOUSE SHOOK AND THE DISHES RATTLED IN THE CUPBOARD. MOM RAN TO THE FRONT DOOR I CALLED TO HER NOT TO GO OUT SIDE SHE DID ANY WAY AND HOLLERED BACK AT ME TO COME SEE.

I WALKED OUT OF THE HOUSE CARRING CHARLES. I HEARD THIS LOUD NOISE WHEN I LOOKED UP OVER THE HOUSE THERE WAS HELICOPTERS WITH SOILDERS IN THEM AS FAR AS MY EYES COULD SEE. STEVE HAD BEEN CALLED TO DETROIT BECAUSE OF ROITING IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS. THE MICHIGAN NATONAL GUARD HAD BEEN DOWN THERE PATROLLING FOR THREE WEEKS. IT WOULDN’T STOP SO THE PRESIDENT SENT IN TROOPS TO HELP THE NATIONAL GUARD. THE RIOTS STOPPED IN ABOUT TWO DAYS.

THE TIME PASSED FAST AND OUR TOWNHOUSE WAS FINISHED AND WE MOVED IT WAS A NICE HOUSE LIVING ROOM, KITCHEN WITH EATING AREA, FULL BASEMENT, TWO BEDROOMS UP STAIRS AND A BATH. WE PARKED RIGHT OUTSIDE OF OUR BACK DOOR. THE ONLY THING WAS THAT WE WERE SO FAR FROM EVERYONE DENNIS HAD TO TAKE THE CAR FOR