Background and Beginnings

Two  years ago, I went to my elderly father's home to help him prepare for moving to an assisted living facility. He was 89 at the time, now 91 and still going strong.The house was crammed with so many memories it was difficult to settle on things that really exemplified growing up in that house, with the love and support of both my parents.

Then I remembered the letters...

From March 1956 to some time in 1959, my parents corresponded, professing their love for each other with daily letters. They each were married when their relationship began. My father was a jazz musician traveling the US and Canada with his trio, The Buddy Rocco 3. My mother was a small town girl with big dreams. The letters seem to start at a point where they already knew they were meant for each other. There is no tentative first letter, with pleasantries and hopefulness in every word. I do not know much about the timeline before the letters. I can only assume he had not gone on the road yet when he and my mother met, they had time to cement their illicit affair before he had to go seek out his fortune.

I grew up hearing stories of life on the road. Dad still played every weekend in the Philadelphia region but his stories of life on the road gave me a glimpse into the time in the mid fifties when his creativity was at its height and that creativity was most likely  the flame that drew my mother like a doomed moth to a candle flame.

And so...I took the letters.

I hope you enjoy them...

*NOTE- All letters will be added to the blog in order. The title will be the post mark on the envelope. I will include the information on the envelope as testament to the places my father played during that time. Photos will be included with some when warranted. They will also be posted verbatim. Any words that are unclear from handwriting or age will be entered as (unreadable).