Adoption & Born on 4th of July
Born on the 4th July
When Jay was growing up we had the most extraordinary adventures.
He now has a family of his own.
A successful menswear designer living in California....
But all these years later..he still talks about those magical times as he was growing up.
Jay was almost 5 when I adopted him.
He had a really tough time in his early years.
I think I was trying to make up the shortfall....
....a friend once told me..
" You love that boy too much..."
Is that even possible?
To love a child too much?
In school holidays we went everywhere with my friend Trudy ...
...Jay, me and our rescued Afghan dog
and labrador in a yellow Citroen 2cv ...she in her green 2cv with 3 daughters and a dog...both cars covered in stickers.....rainbows and anti-nuke....
...we looked like a Greenpeace outing.
Jay and I did museums, theatres and grandiose houses...explored the streets of London ... Annecy in France ...Scotland...
Oh! Venice....
"Mum...come and look at the canal..it's just like in your dreams...."
In Milan we sat outside coffee shops and watched the world and Italian beautiful clothes ....go by..
Jay did modelling for the catalogue of Clothkits in Lewes.
We experienced Northern Ireland when there were tanks on street corners.
Jay palled up with local boys.
They thought he was a celebrity.
A young black boy with a Michael Jackson haircut and bright colourful clothes, stood out in Ballymena in those days.
We stayed with Liam Neeson's mum, Kitty...
...She took us to Dublin and showed us where her son had worked in his early days as an actor...
And she showed us the beauty of Northern Ireland.
The boys locked us out of our car...now a VW Golf...with English number plates.
The bomb squad arrived to investigate...in full riot gear.
"Ma, where was it we held hands with all those women and children? "
"Greenham Common..."
"The marches in London?"
"Friends of the Earth...
Happy Birthday Jay...
......may you continue to follow your dreams...and have many more adventures
#bornonthe4thofjuly
...we looked like a Greenpeace outing.
Jay and I did museums, theatres and grandiose houses...explored the streets of London ... Annecy in France ...Scotland...
Oh! Venice....
"Mum...come and look at the canal..it's just like in your dreams...."
In Milan we sat outside coffee shops and watched the world and Italian beautiful clothes ....go by..
Jay did modelling for the catalogue of Clothkits in Lewes.
We experienced Northern Ireland when there were tanks on street corners.
Jay palled up with local boys.
They thought he was a celebrity.
A young black boy with a Michael Jackson haircut and bright colourful clothes, stood out in Ballymena in those days.
We stayed with Liam Neeson's mum, Kitty...
...She took us to Dublin and showed us where her son had worked in his early days as an actor...
And she showed us the beauty of Northern Ireland.
The boys locked us out of our car...now a VW Golf...with English number plates.
The bomb squad arrived to investigate...in full riot gear.
"Ma, where was it we held hands with all those women and children? "
"Greenham Common..."
"The marches in London?"
"Friends of the Earth...
Happy Birthday Jay...
......may you continue to follow your dreams...and have many more adventures
#bornonthe4thofjuly
#Ballymena
#liamneeson
