16.Getting Married

In 1983 my mom and dad met at a local tavern called Flaherty’s that was a popular hangout for people in Webster. One year later my dad decided to propose to my mom while playing the song you really got me by Van Halen. During the year they were engaged they bought a house together but my mom was not allowed to move in until after their wedding. After their wedding they went to Disney World for their honey moon. After the honeymoon my mom was allowed to move into the house they purchased. In 1986, “we were blessed to find out we were expecting our first child. In 1987, we had a baby girl and named her Brianna Travis. Unfortunately 13 hours after her birth she passed away due to complications with her labor. She developed severe phenomena which was caused by me conium aspiration. She was born three weeks over due. She was then rushed to strong memorial hospital for the best possible care, but was too sick to survive. This changed the way that your dad and I lived the next few years. After planning our baby’s funeral we were forced to grow up very quickly.” During the time of mourning my mom and dad attended many of their friend’s weddings. They said for about 3 years they attended 10-12 weddings a year. My mom got a job at Voit for a few years where she met Patrick Ewing who was a player on the New York Knicks. In 1988, my mom quit her job and had another child. This was my older sister named Stephanie Lynn Travis. After two years off of work she realized she wanted to spend the rest of her life as a mom. She had another child named Daniel James Travis in 1990. Living on a tight budget with my dad only making 28,000 dollars a year my parents needed to do something to lower the cost of living. They refinanced their house and brought the payment of the house down from 735 dollars a month to 600 dollars a month. This helped with supporting the family but we were still forced to live on not much money.