Therese Gallo

My name is Therese, my name on my birth certificate has two accent marks over two e's "The're'se". I was born in May 1957 to Harry and Eleanor DeSanctis. My childhood nick name was Tree-Tree. I was number six of eight siblings - four boys and four girls, all of us living in a small, three bedroom, one small bathroom, bungalow house in Endicott, New York...the Home of the Square Deal, Endicott-Johnson, International Business Machines (IBM).

Growing up in my family was never a dull moment as you can imagine. I often think back on that time of my life and wonder how did my parents do it? Unfortunately my father died suddenly of a massive heart attack at the youthful age of 58 and my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease at the young age of 58 herself and died at age 71 a mere shell of the woman she was.

I married at 21 and initially moved to Tucson, AZ where we lived for a short period of about two years before returning to Endicott. Mark and I bought an old house on the North Side of Endicott (the Italian section) and began our family; Lindsay was born August 1983 and Shannon November 1986. When Shannon was still a baby, less than a year old, we sold the house and moved in with my mother to care for her. Wanting to keep her in her familiar surroundings as long as possible and the fact that I was the only sibling still living in Endicott, it seemed the thing for us to do.

Those years living with and caring for my mother while also working and caring for my family were some of the most challenging and yet rewarding years of my lfie....I didn't come to realize the "rewarding" part of it until most recently and I will get to that further into my writings.

After 17 years of marriage Mark and I divorced. There were many reasons and causes that led to our divorce but we made it as amicable as possible for our girls. To this day Mark and I get along quite well and we gladly share our daughters' life events together, and there have been some eventful moments....which I will write about as I travel this journey of my life.

I now share my life with Dan; we've been together for just about 18 years now. We are not married but do live with each other - it works for us.