Mo (Only Child)

Say you want to cast a character for a movie - a character who would talk to strangers at a bar all night, small talk, light debate, the outgoing but impersonal kind of chitchat - you would cast Mo. He's kind of that type. But faced with a pen and a notebook, he becomes another person, almost suddenly. Vulnerable. Sensitive. Introspective. He even said to me, "I've never done this before. Writing or anything like that. Not even in school. This is my first time."

October 15, 2009

Mo McCooper

Only Child

The man who delivered beer to my father’s bar was down on one knee asking my Aunt Nancy to marry him.  She said yes and they became one of the happiest couples I have ever known.

Nancy was my mother Katie’s little sister who entertained me and taught me to read from my birth until I entered first grade at age six (6).

Other than dropping metal soldiers from our 2nd floor apartment railed porch to the street below at the age two, the rest of my pre-school fun was accompanying my cousin Joey on various adventures within a few miles of the bar apartment where I lived.  All that walking from about tree years old prepared me well to become a play-ground rat for the rest of my life.

Visits in my father’s pick-up truck to my grandparent’s cozy rowhouse in Philadelphia’s East Falls neighborhood enabled me to become closer with about twenty other cousins some of whom became more like brothers and sisters to me.  At the time, I didn’t realize they were the best cousins anyone ever had.

Thanks Grandmom and Grandpop!