Special Mom’s blog

For 13 years, we lived in the Boston suburbs. For the first seven years, we lived in a place called Quincy. Quincy is not a town, but a city. There are four red line stops: Quincy Center, Quincy Adams, Wollaston, and North Quincy. My son attended Quincy Public Schools. They had started an autism classroom, and he was bused to a small elementary school. Life was hard with his diagnosis, but it was all compensated for by great friends. We also had many of our family members visit us when we were in Boston. I think I mastered my everyday cooking skills while living in Quincy. It was me showcasing my cooking talent to people who were dropping by. My house was a mess most of the time, and we had constant complaints from the management about the house not being clean. I think that was the only reason I wanted to move out of a rented apartment to our own house. 

We lived opposite a senior center. Many evenings, I would take my boy to their small park in their complex. It had a water fountain, and I have spent a lot of time talking with the seniors there. I still have a salt and pepper shaker that I purchased from their yard sale one time.

Whenever I say we lived in Quincy, people ask me if we were near the Quincy Market. Quincy Market was in downtown Boston. We loved to visit it during Christmas and enjoyed the gelato sold there. I enjoyed going there just because I could watch people. My life was pretty busy with my children; I did not have time to be outside, and going to downtown Boston was one of my pastimes then.

A geography fact I learned as I continued this challenge. Originally, I thought Montreal was part of Ontario, a Canadian province. But it seems it is part of Quebec. When I wrote about a memorable road trip for the Bloganuary Challenge, I wrote about our trip to Montreal. This was our first trip to Canada. We crossed the border and felt so excited about it. My younger son was just six months old. How we managed that trip, I still do not know. A baby and a super-hyper-autistic kid. I think the mere excitement of visiting a new country gave us an adrenaline rush.

The letter “Q” is a hard word for the challenge. But for me, it was a no-brainer. 

So for the A to Z challenge in April, my theme is the places I have traveled; for the letter “Q,” it is Quincy and Quebec.