Sam continued working in Saul’s office furniture factory. He’d go in at nine and come home at three. He’d rest for half an hour and then we’d have our time together. And if he wasn’t up to going to work, he didn’t go. I stopped working after an accident we had shortly after we were married. We were driving on Bayview, a little south of Sheppard. It was a lovely evening in mid-December; there was no snow on the ground. A fifteen-year-old boy, driving without a licence, hit us head-on. I don’t remember anything, just what I was told later. Two ambulances took us to Sunnybrook Hospital. I woke up on a stretcher with a policeman standing next to me. “Where am I,” I asked. “You’re in Sunnybrook, lady,” he said, and you’re lucky to be alive.”

Because I’d gone through the windshield, the whole left side of my face was full of glass. My humerus was broken and I was in a cast for eight or nine months. But the arm wouldn’t heal so they had to operate. I still have a large scar on my upper right arm and there are seven screws and a plate holding it together. Sam broke some ribs and had a chipped bone in his neck. I wouldn’t let them work on me until they assured me that Sam was going to be okay.

David and Eva.

Everybody was wonderful. Sam fed and washed me; he combed my hair. (I can’t do anything without the use of my right arm.) We spent our first anniversary in a convalescent home. Sam was still healing too and couldn’t drive. His children would bring him to see me. He’d spend all his days with me, eating in the cafeteria. As soon as I was home and he was well enough, he went back to work.

In March 1982, Eva had moved into her own apartment on Avenue Road. At a party held by one of her neighbours, Cindy Mortimer, she met David Lloyd, a good-looking, serious young man. They met again a year later and began dating. Then, on a romantic weekend away, David proposed. I must admit that at first I wasn’t too happy about Eva marrying a non-Jew. It had nothing to do with David himself. You have to understand the world that I grew up in. But with Sam’s help, I soon accepted him and over the years, I have come to love David with all my heart. Everyone likes him. He is a good and considerate man who is always there for me.

Brooke, the flower girl, and Ezra Klein, the ring bearer.

They were married on December 1, 1985, a year and a half after they had begun dating. The wedding was a beautiful affair at the Inn on the Park Hotel, attended by about 200 guests. Sam’s granddaughter Brooke was the flower girl. Rick and I walked Eva down the aisle to give her away. I worried that David’s family would not feel comfortable at a Jewish wedding, but when I saw everyone from both sides dancing the hora, I had a good feeling inside. [group photo] At the time of their marriage, David was working in real estate. More recently, he’s worked with Rick in construction.

When Eva announced that she was pregnant, I was ecstatic. On October 18, 1987, our first miracle, Tarah Ellen Gitta, arrived and with her birth, a brand new bubby was born. I was in seventh heaven. Tarah was a beautiful, black-haired, dark-eyed, sweet baby. Eva breastfed Tarah for a very, very, long time and she was a happy, healthy, pink-cheeked baby.

On February 3, 1990, a second miracle arrived, this time a beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed, baby, Talya Leona Emily. My happiness was complete; I now had my own two granddaughters and I’ve always thought of Brooke as a third. Talya was a happy and healthy baby, too, and Eva breastfed her until she was — never mind! The two girls have been blessed with wonderful parents, two doting aunts — Robin and Kathie (David’s sisters) — and four loving grandparents, Mary and John and Sam and myself. It has given me great pleasure to see how involved their Uncle Rick has been in their lives. He devotes time to taking them to movies, to the theatre and on other outings. He is responsible for introducing them to the world of computers and has established a yearly family tradition of going to Stratford.

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