<><><><><><><><><><><>"Five O"<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Written on January 13th, 2017.
{A True Story and Dedication}
"There was nothing left...
"And all alone...
"Don't you know?"
"But the symbol...
'5.O'.
...
"Time reflects backwards now for me as I write these words...
"There is nothing worst than Death...
"Let alone a loss of your only child...
"But in 'Time' time will heal most wounds...
...
"I never wanted or expected much as a child, being raised by alcoholics...
"I saw a movie in the 'Early Sixties' called "Jason and The Argonauts" and that would be my 'First Born Son's Name.'
...
"I was born in more peaceful times than today the third child and fourth son...
"Being 'A Naval Brat' and a future 'Baby Boomer', mom had her hands full because...
'The Chief' was always at war and out to sea...
"But that was back in the Forties and the Fifties...
...
"In the 'Sixties...
"I was moderately happy and educated child but education was mostly a bore being smarter than most...
"I had experienced the death of three friends from kinder garden to sixth...
"Dad {The Chief} would die in 1972...
{From his disease}
"Leaving a decision to be made?"
"Mom liked 'The Jersey Shore' so we packed up what would could and sold the house in Sewell, New Jersey."
...
"In and around this time, I quit school and went to work helping to support the family."
"My three brothers {both younger and older] were for the most part...
"Worthless."
"Acquiring a $44.00 pay check each week at a dollar an hour was hard."
"I was told by my employer it would get better, as he was starting out."
"The other four dollars were spent for pleasure at the arcade."
...
"The 'Seventies' came and went and I experienced my first girlfriend at seventeen...
"I continued working and graduating high school in 1974...
"My job was quickly becoming a career."
"That was when I met Susan and fell hard at only twenty."
"She was my first and would be my last?"
"I worked my 'Ass' off and was able to own my house in full by paying off a $18,500 mortgage and giving mom another $15,000.00."
"This was in 1976 and my employer 'De Figlio' or 'Mr. D' made good by his word...
{For now}.
...
'The 'Eighties' came in 'Like a Lamb' but went out 'Like a Lion.'
"Now married with a family of my own, my dreams were coming true?"
"My Perfect Family and Perfect World!"
"I was now in my Mid-Thirties and successful vacationing yearly to Florida."
"This was 'The First, Ten, Years.'

****

"The Second, Ten, Years."

"Things were beginning to get 'A Little Rocky' and my wife said that even with my...
'Summer Pays" we were still struggling."
"I ran 'The Night Crew' and was pulling down over $1,700.00 plus weekly."
"I gave her {Carolyn Ann} complete control and left the Equity Loan on the addition in 1985 at owing only Eight thousand."
...
'The Nineties' would prove to be draining...
"My youngest was 'The Mail Snatcher' and would get it to mommy before daddy saw it!"
"The idea was to not let dad know that we were deeply behind in all the bills and in danger of soon losing the house...
"I had suspicions but was afraid to press the issue."
"She paid down only half the taxes every year and we were behind thousands!"
...
"The Gambling Years!"
"How we were able to survive during that "Time Period' I will never know?"
"The early and beginning years of 'The New Century' were going to break my Heart."
'My youngest Daughter {Dana Alyse} was skipping school, drinking, and smoking the cigarettes that 'Mommy' was supplying!"
"What happened to 'My Perfect World and Family?'
...
"March of '03 would come in like 'A Lion' and go out like 'THE GRIM REAPER!'
"My Only Son Jason Richard would be involved in a 'Horrid Accident!'
'Irreversible Brain Damaged" the doctors would say and we had a choice to make...
"To donate Jason's Organs, saving four *Lives."
...
"Today over thirteen, years, later at the site...
"There was nothing left...
"Don't you know?"
"And all alone...
"But the symbol...
**'5.0.'