Chapter Two: Childhood
I am originally a New Yorker and from a well off family of old money. My father was a successful in the stock business and was well respected in the higher circles of society. He married my mother later in his life because prior to meeting her his work was his everything. But my mother turned his world upside down. They met at a party on the Upper East side. She was twenty years his junior but sparks flew and their love was undeniable. One of the reasons that they were drawn to each other was my mother had just lost the last of her family when her father died of cancer and she had a void in her life that she needed to fill. My father on the other hand didn't even know that something was missing from his existence until he met her. They had a short courtship and a small wedding in the justice building. My mother at this time in her life was still very weak and recovering from her grief. My father decided that maybe it was best for them to move out of the city to a place that did not hold so many memories of her past. She needed a fresh start so they moved to Upstate New York for a change of scenery and pace of life.
But very quickly they decided that they want to make the most of their time as just a family of two and started to wandering all over the East Coast. The beauty and serenity of nature seemed to restore my mother to her former self. This person was totally new to my father, who had only known her post loss. He fell even more in love with the happy, free spirit she was becoming. They roamed freely and tried to experience as much as possible before they decided to start expanding their family.
I was born in Washington DC and quickly became their one great love besides each other. As soon as I was deemed old enough, they set off wandering again. I was the light of their lives and they gave me every bit love they had. One of my earliest memories of the time before I turned five was my mother and father laughing and singing while spinning me in circles, smashed between them. They did all that they could to make sure I was content and knew I was absolutely adored by both of them. My mother wanted a daughter and did not get her wish until I turned five.
We took in a young girl from the Charleston area who had lost all of her family in a tragic fire. She was a beautiful wisp of a thing with long dark hair and bright green eyes. Her name was Libby and from the moment I met her I knew that she was going to change my world. We moved back and settled in Upstate New York permanently. My father commuted to the city to work a couple of days per week , but worked mainly from home. Libby and I were a year apart and attended the same private school which allowed us to become fast friends in those first few years together. Our bond only grew as we aged. We never treated each other like siblings because our mother never looked at us that way. I was her son and Libby was meant to be part of my life as more than a sister or a friend. I learned as I grew that Libby was someone that I was supposed to protect and cherish and that was exactly how I treated her. She and I were meant to end up married one day and stay together forever.
You couldn't help but fall under Libby's spell. She had the kind of sweetness that is magnetic and draws you in. I have yet to meet a person that can find any fault in her character. She was a kind and gentle person. Out of the two of us she was the more logical and thoughtful one. I had a bit of a temper when I was younger but she was always very tolerant of my outbursts. I was also the one that was driven and had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
My brother was born two years after our return to New York. That was also the year I made my one and only friend. Henry was his name and he and I couldn't have been more different. He loved the theater and was always quoting Shakespeare and other writers he deemed romantic in nature. He honestly loved the idea of a love story. I on the other hand loved science and discovery above all of my other interests. Henry loved the beauty in the world, I loved the thought of creating my own beauty. Though we were a very odd pair we balanced each other and that was what made our friendship not only work, it was what made us strong. All through my youth we were inseparable. But eventually my passion for invention and the science behind it took his spot at number one on my ways to spend my free time.
My great love was science fiction. From as soon as I could read a chapter book and got a school library card, I was consuming every book the section had to offer. I didn't really enjoy the distopian society novels that some of the other kids were into. I liked the stories of bringing people back from the dead and genetically altercation to improve physical and mental abilities. As soon as a finished all of those books I began to study the topics in the non fiction section and library data bases. What little I came up with wasn't enough to satisfy my curiosity. I wanted to find people that had actually dappled in those yet unexplored areas of medicine and DNA. My father thought I was crazy and said those books were nothing more than a person with an over active imagination using the medium of writing as a creative outlet. But by my senior year around my eighteenth birthday he decided that he would fund my college career at John Hopkins in Maryland where I would begin the studies that would ultimately lead me to where I am now, a broken and borderline psychotic man.