I Already Know: Memoirs of a NY Woman

By Margie DeCarmine

The meaning of the title I Already Know is because I have had many life experiences, and I have been observant all my life. When I met Billy the second time around, all my answers to his questions and responses to his statements, I already know. Even if I was guessing, I would say it, and 99 percent of the time, I was right. I showed Bill that I was on the money most of the times, and that I was so right too.

Ask Billy, I already know.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638141013

Book preview

Chapter 1

My Beginning

My parents met in Yonkers, New York at the polish community center at a dance.

I was brought up in a Christian home. We all know what that means—Bible-believing and knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

I was born and grew up in Yonkers for the first nineteen years of my life.

I lived up the hill from Nepperhan Avenue. I was born in St. John’s Hospital and moved to where my mom lives now when I was six weeks old.

I went to Emerson Elementary/Middle School for nine years then to Sacred Heart High School, class of ’80.

I don’t remember much from before I was five except my dad teaching me how to swim in Moodus, Connecticut, and going to the circus and asking my dad when it was over and him telling me thirty minutes. I started counting backward from thirty to zero and asked how long. He said thirty minutes. I was two or three.

I remember playing outside my parent’s house in their driveway and on the Circle (street) we lived on. The kids on my street were all about the same age. We played a lot of neighborhood games—football, baseball, kick the can, and hide-and-seek. We would ride our bikes and roller skate in the small circle all day, hardly any cars. Those who lived in the neighborhood knew how to listen for cars. I still have a scar on my knee from when I rode down my street’s hill where at the bottom was sandy. The water used to accumulate in a big puddle when it rained. So when it dried, it was sandy. While on my bike, I went to turn on the sand into the street at the bottom of the hill and slid on my knee. I had to walk up the hill with a bloody knee with sand and pebbles in it. My mom spent some time cleaning it out.

My street was a good place to grow up on. I grew up in a Bible-believing church. My parents are both Christians. My mom grew up as a Christian, and my father didn’t.

Mom was saved through my grandmother (my favorite person when she was alive). And my dad was saved at a Billy Graham’s crusade. I know more of my dad’s testimony than my mom’s.

My dad was driving home from work one day, the same day, I think, as he was going to a Billy Graham’s crusade. A woman driving in front of him had an auto accident right in front of him. He would have been next. The woman’s car was on fire, and my dad got out of his car and pulled her out. Her legs were severed from her body. He laid her down and got in his car and drove away. He said he didn’t want to get involved. But he probably saved the woman’s life.

The same night, my parents went to see Billy Graham. Billy Graham preached that night about how you could be driving home from work one day and, out of nowhere, get into a car accident and die instantly. And if you didn’t yet accept Christ, you would not spend eternity with Christ and be lost. Well, that hit my father like a ton of bricks.

When Billy Graham asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ, my father did. I think it was before I was born.

We went to a small church in Yonkers. It was very conservative and followed the doctrine of the Bible. I always knew what they taught was the truth.

I am so very thankful that my parents raised me knowing and learning this truth about God, Christ, and the Bible. For if I didn’t grow up that way, I always say I would have been dead already.

I never wanted to go to church, but I did always pay attention to learn and pass the time. So I know a lot about the Bible and what it teaches. I also have depended on what it taught me to make it through my life. I have a lot of emotional scars from life, but I always depended on God to get me through a lot of trials and tribulations. Keep on trudging, I always say.

That is why I thank God for my parents for being consistent and persistent in teaching and living the truth. My faith is in Christ Jesus, Son of God who died for our sin and rose again to prove that he was God, the one and true God.

When I was young, from the time I was I think seven or eight years old, I remember enjoying art. I was good at drawing and painting. But it did take some practice. I would spend hours teaching myself how to draw everything. I started painting at a class my mother and I took. I think I was around fifteen years old. I had an offer for my first painting of a lighthouse. I did not sell it. I gave it to my first boyfriend as a gift. He hung it up in his room. I saw him later on in life, and he does not have it anymore.

I spent many hours in my room drawing and listening to music.

Another part of my childhood was going to camp in the summers till I was fifteen years old. I think I went nine years in a row. I hated it. Again, I learned a lot. Also, it was a camp which followed the doctrines of the Bible. I learned a lot from that camp. I had some years there that were okay. But most of them—well, to tell the truth—I was a little rebellious. I wouldn’t listen to the counselors sometimes, and I would get consequences. One time I remember that the counselor did not like me at all. At least that was how I felt. I did something. I can’t remember what. But all I can remember is that she talked to me for at least three hours in private. It was outside in the evening. We sat on a picnic table up by the ball field. I ended up that night with over 140 mosquito bites. If her talking wasn’t punishment enough, those mosquito bites were. I don’t remember if I was any better from her talk. I probably was quiet the rest of camp and couldn’t wait for my parents to come get me. My daughter and granddaughter also went to that camp. I think they were kind of the same way, a little rebellious at times. I know they got in trouble sometimes. It is a very hard camp to go to. You have to be perfect—that is, to not get in trouble. However, now being a grown woman, I am glad that I went to that camp. I learned a lot about Jesus and the Bible, sang songs in the tabernacle. I remember hearing us sing. We were all girls. It sounded like angels singing. I enjoyed the crafts and nature classes we had. We also had competitions memorizing Bible verses. And I can now relate to my daughter and granddaughter about it.

My mom

My mom is also from Yonkers. She grew up and still lives there. My parents bought a house near Emerson Elementary/Middle School.

My mom was first-generation Slovak American. Her mom was from Czechoslovakia who came over on a boat when she was nine. Her mom, my great-grandmother, died when my grandmother was nine. Her father was already in America. He was a US citizen already.

She was a great woman and great godly example. She came through Ellis Island but was able to come right through because she was a US citizen too already.

I remember Thanksgiving holidays, we would go to dinner at her house and watch The Wizard of Oz with my cousins. She also would sit us on her lap and tell stories of Czechoslovakia.

My mom was also always a great example of a godly, righteous woman. She was beautiful both on the outside and inside. She always was teaching God’s way. She would sing to me at night when I was young before I went to bed at night. She sang the hymn The Love of God. I remember calling out to her at night to come and sing me to sleep. Then she would have to leave the hall with the light on till I went to sleep.

Mom and I were close. She was always there for me (thank God). Mom would make us do our household chores on Saturdays before we would go out to play. I hated that. But if she didn’t make us, I would think that in my adult life I may have been lazy, which I am not. I mean, there are times I can be, but I do work hard and have worked all of my life.

Mom was always there for me. While I was a teen, she drove me everywhere a lot of times to see boys—the curse. One time I met a guy at a Christian teen retreat. He was very cute. I was thirteen. He was sixteen. Believe it or not, both my parents drove me to Massachusetts to see him. Well, what a trip that was. First, my father drove two hours out of the way. We didn’t have Waze then, so we turned around. The car was borrowed because my father’s car was in the shop. It was an old station wagon. Because it wasn’t his car, he didn’t know it very well. I think the gas gauge was broken because we also ran out of gas, then a flat tire. We finally got there. I could only spend a couple of hours with my friend because we had to go home at dark. I never saw that guy again. I was young; he lived too far away.

One time, my mom and I went to New York City to visit her friend in the hospital. We went to a pizzeria on Amsterdam Avenue. It was really good pizza. We got it with extra cheese. I mean, there was so much cheese that after taking the first bite, I chewed, I think, for five minutes. And it still wasn’t finished when I asked my mother if she was still chewing her first bite. She said yes. And we started laughing. Our mouths were full of cheese. We were drooling, laughing, and trying to breathe all at once. That was hysterical. Guess you had to be there.

Mom loved to go to the beach. As I was growing up, we went to the beach often in the summer. She liked Lake Welch. So did I.

Mom and I went on two vacations together, just her and me. First was a trip to Italy. We did tour Sicily and then spent four days in Rome. We had a great time. We did a lot of walking especially in Rome. But we spent quality time together. We sat in front of the Trevi Fountain for three hours one beautiful day and ate gelato and watched people.

The second trip was a cruise in Alaska’s inside passage. It was a Christian cruise, so it was enjoyable without gambling and drinking. The entertainers were Christians and very entertaining. I saw a comedian, Ken Davis. My mom and I couldn’t stop laughing the entire show.

We went on a boat ride in Sitka and took a