Brendan Thomas Kelly

Brendan (Dad) and Irene with Santa who has a striking resemblance to my grandfather but I am told by Dad was the Santa at McCleary's in Dublin.

December of 1946/7 is the date  according to himself.

He had spent the War years in Sligo with his Grandparents, as his folks were sure Hitler would bomb Dublin, either by mistake or design. He was 6 months old when they took him down to the farm, and he didn't return to Dublin till the war was over.

1st Christmas in America 1957: 

Irene, Brendan and Mary.

After arriving in the United States, Dad and Irene were up in the Catskills and were speaking with a woman from Ireland. She told the two she had been in America for over 15 years. The siblings looked at one another laughing:

"Sure, we'll never be here that long!"

Patrick, Brendan and Ned

Atop the Zugsplitz.

This is the first picture I ever saw of my father in uniform. He served in the US Army during the Vietnam years as a corpsman in Heidelberg. 

Brendan Kelly looking out over no-man's land

Berlin 1964/5

 Mom joined him in Germany after they married and they traveled to Berlin for a visit while assigned in Heidelberg. Mom headed to her parents' farm in Ireland to have Dee in Sept 1965 and Dad joined them there at the end of his service.

The family of three returned to the Bronx where I was born the following March.

In the Maher backyard in Blauvelt, Marion Maher is Dad's first cousin.

Easter morning in our new dresses with our new purses. Mom made the dresses and matching capes and Grandpa Kelly bought our purses and filled them with candy.

Dad in The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown
 in Cape Cod 1973/74

This is dad outside the cabin we rented for the week at Cape Cod

Dad is holding baby Teresa- this was the 1976 visit to Fairfield Ohio. 

All the Kellys on Christmas day at 251

Family Portrait 1981 just in time for Christmas- I am wearing my confirmation dress.

Christmas 1989 

1993 was a good year. Ellen married Tommy and 251 Hollywood got new wall to wall carpeting.

  The Kelly family with Teresa and Dennis at Granny's apartment

               Mom, Irene, Dad and Granny

This is a picture of Eddie, Liz, Brendan, Ellen and Tommy 2008, when dad was in the Rehab center after his stroke. The stroke was the result of a plaque being loosened when he was having a heart stent placed.

May 2014, I stopped in to visit on my way back from Miami- I had gone down with Liz due to a family emergency.

Brendan and Victoria 2014 in front of the Florida homestead. Victoria has been Dad's home health aide for years.

2015 Visiting Jerry Nihan while I was on leave to take Dad for Radiation treatment. Dad had 9 weeks of therapy and we tried to keep his spirits up

May 2016- Eddie's Wedding in upstate New York- Dad walked with Sarah's mom down the aisle.

All the clan at Eddie and Sarah's wedding- a wonderful day

Today is Dad's 80th birthday so a thought I would share some of these memories.

Best Wedding ever

In 1994, I attended "THE BEST WEDDING EVER" when my sister married Tommy.

How can that be 25 years ago?

My sister found her dream dress and off the rack it fit like a glove. The fact that it cost less than my dress for the wedding still shocks me. But I loved my dress so it was totally worth it.

The place was amazing, the food was endless (though we danced so much most of us missed a few courses) and the music was inspirational.

We were surrounded by family and friends, old and new, and if I am being truthful, the party started the Wednesday before and didn't end till Monday morning.

It was an amazing night!

And the best was yet to come.

Happy Anniversary to both of you! 

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School- one year on

On February 15, 2018, my daughter Liz wrote:

"Yesterday, In Cincinnati, my little brother had an assembly at school with the focus of creating awareness to prevent acts of violence against others and themselves.

& at the same time In Parkland, my little sister hid in her classroom as a shooter was on the loose.

The 24 hour news cycle will soon be up and there will be something new to talk about. However, if we continue to do the same thing, nothing, then we will end up with the same results. It’s not up to the next person to change things, it’s up to all of us."

On February 14, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was the site of a school shooting that left 17 dead and 17 injured.  Hundreds more were like my daughter's little sister. 

Diana was a senior at the time, and getting ready to do a presentation when gunfire erupted. She and her classmates hid until they were evacuated by police.

Liz was frantic trying to get information after the story broke on the national news- she knew right away that it was the school Diana attended. Liz called me asking if I knew anything or had heard from anyone, because her brother, stepmom and father had not answered her calls. I had heard about the shooting but didn't know it was Diana’s school.

After a quick Facebook message to Vilma, we were able to confirm Diana was safe but it left me shivering. I cannot imagine how Vilma felt. How the parents of the injured felt. How the parents and families of the dead felt. Too much loss, such incredible suffering. And in my head was ringing...

Again.

It happened again.

This video was released in May

#MSDStrong #StoriesUntold

Nuala's 80th Birthday

Back when a small cottage was a newlywed couple's home, my mother Nuala was born in Ireland.

    

Her grandmother, born Ellen Ellis, was her grandfather's second wife. She encouraged the family to buy land as soon as they were able. Her father Eddie and her mother, also Ellen but always called Nellie, had nine children after her.

My mother went to America and lived with Uncle Brian and Aunt Regina, along with her sister Etta.

There she met my dad and they decided to get married. Her Shower was held at Uncle Brian's house in the Bronx.

They moved to Germany after they married as Dad was in the Army- I loved the car they had there.

  

They went back to Ireland for Chris' wedding.

Chris got all the dresses and the shoes from Mom, who had used them all in her wedding the previous year.

Mom, along with Gay and Ann, were the bridesmaids.

Mom also spent time with my dad's family in Dublin.

Mom with Pat and Ned

Ann arriving in Germany

Mom's sister Ann visited my parents in Germany.

 

Mom's parents came to America for a visit after Dad was discharged and they all visited Washington DC.

Dee and Mom in Uncle Brian's yard.

Mom and Dad lived close to Dad's parents and his siblings- This is Mary T's Birthday party at the apartment on 190th Street off University.

 

This is mom and me on my Christening day

One of my favorite pictures with Mom, but she hated the color of her hair at the time.

My brother's first Christmas.

Mom always had a ton of kids in our house.

The Nativity Play in Brooklyn

 Cape Cod summer

Visiting Ohio

For Mom it was all about family.

Mac and Monica wed

 

Christmas in Yonkers

 With Dad's mom and sisters

Christmas in the Bronx

My sister's wedding

Eddie Keith and Mom

 
Mom with her mom, Nellie and sister Rita at Colleen's wedding in Ireland.

My mom died on Christmas day just after turning 64. It is hard to believe how long she has been gone. Hard being without her.

I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday.

Zimbabwe one year later

Harare, Zimbabwe (CNN)We were standing in the square outside Parliament in downtown Harare on Tuesday when word started spreading. A woman ran up to me and asked, "Is he gone? Is he really gone?"

Most Zimbabweans have only ever known one president. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, 93, ruled this country with a tight grip. He never tolerated dissent, and it was ordinary people who paid the price of his 37-year reign.

The army seized control of the country and put Mugabe under house arrest a week ago, but the "Old Man," as he has become known, had still refused to quit.

Zimbabweans were girding themselves for a protracted and bitter impeachment battle as Parliament convened to oust their stubborn leader on Tuesday.

It has been a year since Mugabe was removed from power, but the same systems are in place and the same lack of accountability is present. Prices are up and all the promises of renewal made one year ago have  yet to take hold.

Maybe the coming year will bring better results?

I would like to see Zimbabwe return to being the bread basket of Africa- it will take time and investment and some serious movement by the government, but I believe they can get there. Not overnight, maybe not in the next decade. But I remain hopeful/

Phlebotomy

At six am on November 19, 1987, I was at Bellevue Hospital for my morning job as a Phlebotomist. My friends, Chris and Karen, helped me get the job a couple of months before and I was still getting used to the 6am-8am shift. But it paid $10/hr and as a pre-nursing student, it was good money. And I loved the work.

I was assigned to 12 East that morning, a floor I had not worked on before. And I admit, I was distracted, as I had an Anatomy and Physiology test that morning at 8 am, so I needed to finish on time. I was halfway through my blood list when I came to an isolation room. This was in the days before The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had sharps containers and boxes of gloves in every room.

I had a small sharps box on my tray of supplies, which I left on the floor outside the isolation room, taking in only the items I needed to draw the man’s blood.

The man was a young old man, in that he was weak and thin and frail. But he wasn’t even 30 yet. He didn’t respond to my questions, but his bracelet matched my orders so I got started and got the blood I needed without difficulty. 

I always disconnected the last vacutainer tube before withdrawing the needle as I felt it was less likely to leave a bruise that way, so the hub of the needle was full of his blood as I stabbed my index finger trying to recap the needle.

I didn’t want to walk through the doorway with the needle exposed in case I might stick someone. I had never in my on the job training been told not to recap. Crazy! I took off my glove and stared at my finger.

“Crap, I hope he doesn’t have Hepatitis” is what immediately ran through my head.

I went to the nurses’ station, found his chart and read “PCP” and couldn’t figure out why Angel dust was a medical diagnosis, and “Toxoplasmosis” wondering how this poor man got the disease pregnant women get from cats, when the nurse asked me what I was doing.

“I got stuck with his needle and am trying to find out if he has…”

By the time I got to that part of my sentence the nurse had dragged me to the closest sink, turned on the hot water and was pumping my finger, saying, “Honey, didn’t anyone tell you this is the AIDS floor?”

Holy sweet mother of God…. AIDS?!?!?

I have no memory of going back to our workroom or who said what to whom to put the wheels in motion. I could hardly catch my breath for the terror I felt.

My friend Chris walked me to my Anatomy lab and I explained I needed to go to NYU for testing and a Hep B vaccination (I had only has two of the three in the series) and as I said the words I heard the shake in my voice as tears welled in my eyes. My instructor told me to do the things I needed to do, that she would reschedule the test for me.

Chris walked me to NYU and waited while the testing schedule was explained to me- today, six weeks, three months, six months and one year. It was 1987 so that was all they could do. This was early in the epidemic and I was absolutely terrified. 

I was lucky. I did not sero-convert. I will never know if I just didn’t get a big enough dose from the blood in the hub, or if the amazing nurse who pumped my finger saved my life but I was spared. And AIDS became real to me in a way it wasn’t before.

The patient died two weeks after my finger stick. God rest his soul.