I was born in NYC in 1949,  the second and youngest daughter of a family of Italian-American descent.  My earliest memory is of having a birthday party; I'm pretty sure it was either my second or third birthday.  We lived in Elmhurst,   Queens, in a house converted into a two-family that my grandfather purchased after the war.  Grandpa and his family  (you will learn about them a couple of paragraphs down) lived on the main floor and one-half of the second floor, where there were their bedrooms and one full bath. My family had the other half of the second floor as a living room and kitchen. Dad finished off the attic into two bedrooms, one for my sister and me and one for him and my Mom.   The ceilings were pitched because it was directly under the roof, but no one in my family is very tall, so it wasn't a problem.  But being under the roof, summers were toasty! 

About my grandfather and my unique family tree. 

​No, this is NOT my  family tree. This one appears to be pretty normal. 

My grandfather was a widower and married  one of my mother's older sisters (Mom was one of nine children from my Sicilian grandparents, whom I never knew.)  My Dad then married my  Mom. then,    if that wasn't complicated enough,  one of my Dad's brothers married my mother's younger sister. 

So this is how it worked out in our family:
Grandpa, widowed twice,  married my  Aunt Dotty as his third wife (Mom's slightly older sister, who was much younger than Grandpa)...they had three children, two of whom were/are my cousins/uncles and their daughter,  four years younger than me, who was/is my cousin/aunt.

They are all half-siblings of my  Dad, as well as being my Mom's nephews and niece. This also made my  Grandfather my Dad's brother-in-law, since he was married to Dad's sister-in-law, and Grandpa was also my  Uncle since he was married to my  Aunt. 
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Then my  Dad's younger brother, Robbie,  married my Mom's younger sister ("Chubby."). That seemed to be a normal relationship,  except that it made Dad's brother also his brother-in-law because he was married to another of my Mom's sisters and he, like my father, was my Aunt's stepson. I think Uncle Robbie and Aunt Chubby's one child was always just my first cousin.

That in itself seems odd. 

I know it doesn't sound real, but it is.   I actually tried to put this on a family tree, but opted for the illustration above. Even my rough outline looked like the  "Enchanted Forest." 
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