Our family immigrated to New York in the 1970’s and it was a challenge to financially support seven children and both Daniel and Sylvia worked hard, long hours to do so. Many necessities had to be cut out such as medical and dental insurance. Luxuries such as restaurants, vacations, trendy clothes were never in the equation.
The wheels of fortune finally turned in the early 1980’s. A company who made electronic exhibits and displays employed Daniel, who possessed an innate ability to repair almost any appliance. One of their more famous displays was the laughing, fat lady at Coney Island. Later the company was involved in the Hall of Presidents displays at Disney. The company gained a reputation for making animated characters. As a result they became involved with a heart simulator machine, used to train cardiologists, produced by the University of Miami. My father was the expert at assembling and repairing this expensive medical tool and it became clear that there was a job opportunity at UM for such a person. The only issue was that Daddy never graduated high school, although he did receive his GED at a local community college in Queens in his 40’s. While he was qualified for the position he did not possess the resume befitting someone for that high level position. The Cardiology Dept. of such an esteemed university would never hire a high-school dropout. I remember my father on the telephone with a coworker on the project from California as they conspired to get daddy the job. His friend in CA produced a beautiful resume for my dad that was almost entirely fictional. His resume bragged that, in addition to completing high school, Daniel had gone on to the University of the Caribbean and obtained his engineering degree. His qualifications were stellar and he was offered the job.
Mother quit her job at the bank; they sold the house, and moved down to Miami. They bought a big house with a swimming pool, separate living room, family room, two car garage, screen house, intercom and a master bedroom with an en-suite that they didn’t have to share with seven children. Daddy made more money that he’d ever made in his life. Mother no longer had to work and the family had health insurance, life insurance and a retirement account. Three of the kids moved with them and the rest of us came to visit them in paradise as often as possible. This was a time of South Beach adventures, Coconut Grove explorations and weekend trips to the Florida Keys. Mother and Daddy traveled all over the world installing the cardiac simulators. We have pictures of Mother sitting on a camel in Egypt, Daddy having sushi in Japan, both of them standing at a castle in Norway, smiling in front of the Eiffel tower etc. This was the peak of our family life and Daddy bought his first of several boats that we would pilot to sun and fish in the Gulf Stream. We had happy times, money, travel and health. There were Christmas presents every year and my parents were generous because they could afford to be. It was an amazing immigrant success story.
unbecomingjane 