back to background stuff

Between the two of us, we had nothing when we got married. We lucked into a small house, renting with an option to buy. Part of our rent was put into an escrow account to be used as a down payment after two years. Voila! We were homeowners. I had a job managing a travel agency. The money was good, the perks were fantastic. Joe became what he was born to be, a NYC firefighter. He worked on the side in a construction union. We had plenty of love, enough money, a beautiful home and so much fun.
It was a fabulously long honeymoon. Because of childhood issues, I didn't think I could get pregnant so I told everybody I didn't want kids. I told Joe early on I had always felt that someday I would adopt a child. It was a feeling I'd had since I was a little girl. But,that was in some distant future.

Then, after six years of marriage, we discovered I was pregnant.