My paternal grandfather, Julius Hessinger, who got his teenaged girlfriend, my maternal grandmother, Frances Wehr, pregnant when they were both sixteen, which baby boy born nine months later was my father, Joseph Jay, who arrived into a ready made family after those two sixteen year old lovers got married and my grandfather went to work for the rest of his life at the Bethlehem Steel Company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and then had two more children, my paternal aunts Gloria (“Tootie”) and Doris.

Sitting in this photo with their “Pappy” Hessinger from right to left are my big brother, Joseph (“Lil’ Joe”) Julius, big sister, Mary Frances, cousin, Sharon, and cousin, Jack, then standing with Pappy from left to right are my cousin, Sally Jo, and my middle big sister, Susan Jean.

NOT pictured for some reason, probably because he was crying for NOT getting to be the center of attention, and missing from his otherwise throne of a chair towering high above his siblings and cousins is Yours Truly, The [Normally] Happy Narcissist, whose Mommy, Julia (“Judy”) was most likely holding the little cry baby while pregnant with the last of Pappy’s grandchildren, my little sister, Kathryn Marie, while my father takes this photo and my “Grammie” Hessinger looks on from behind the camera.

And THAT’s how they handled unplanned teen pregnancies in those days; Romeo and Juliet got married, and Romeo got a job to support his family.