An Authentic Life 1.1 for pdf - Universalist Radha-Krishnaism

I was born December 29, 1946, in Brooklyn to
Ruth and Bill Bohlert. Mom was a petite twenty year
old. Dad was twenty-five and served in the U.S. Air
Force during WWII in England doing radio repair
work. He started a radio and TV repair business after
the war.
Movies and newsreels of WWII played a large
role in shaping my view of life along with the starkness
of life in Brooklyn/Queens. My father didn’t
seem to like me and said demeaning things that hurt
my feelings.
“When they were giving out noses, you
thought they said roses and said, ‘Give me a big red
one.’”
“Dad, where do I come from?”
“A crow shit you on a fence post and the sun
hatched you.”
Looking back, I can see he may have been joking,
but then I felt the joke was on me, and it wasn’t
funny.
We first lived in Glendale, Queens with his
parents, John and Minnie, along with my great aunt
and uncle in their brownstone row house. My grandparents
clearly loved me and my earliest memories
are of them.
John had a strawberry garden in the backyard
that he fertilized with ashes from the coal furnace and
watered from a rain catchment cistern. He made
candy for Schraff’s, and he did not accept a promotion
to foreman. He made great candy and brought
home plenty of samples.
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