One day I was surprised to learn Tina was pregnant again. Living in a double storey house became a big problem for Tina as she found it difficult to always be climbing up and down the stairs. So in the last months of the pregnancy, we decided to move our bedroom downstairs. That made things much easier for Tina. Our neighbours the Maddens lived next door to us. Mrs madden had been a nurse and was very helpful to Theresa during her pregnancy. Tina gave birth to a beautiful and petite baby girl who we named Josie, after Giosephina, my mother.

I spent less and less time with the paseani as we all were busy with our own families and had no time for each other … unless some special event came along like a funeral or a wedding and we would catch up on all the news and reminisce about old times.

At my work, our section senior officer Frank Day, an amputee from the First World War himself, passed away in hospital. I was sad because he was such a grand man and he’d been helping me all along with work and in my career. Frank’s departure caused a lot of friction at work because I was next in line to get his job. Unfortunately as R.A.L.A.C was run by the Freemasons they insisted that a fellow Freemason get the job that I so rightly deserved. They transferred me to the limb division to hide me out of the way so they could promote this fellow Freemason (who happened to also be a Grand Wizard). None-the-less I enjoyed my stay in the ‘above-knee’ section. For me, it was a new experience and I liked it. What I did not like was the way they shifted me out for one of their own. Despite the setback I excelled in my new position and looked after my patients from start to finish, keeping them happy. And I learned to accept once again that nothing comes easy for some.

This state of affairs (Freemason discrimination) at work lasted for about three years. Harry Digby, the man who took my place, was not happy with that job either, in the ‘finishing’ section. So he decided he wanted to get into the surgical boots section which was his trade before he’d started at R.A.L.A.C. Surprise, surprise!—I was sent back to ‘finishing’, which I was happy with anyway as it was much cleaner.

In the ‘finishing’ section we completed prosthesis, made surgical corsets, plastic collars and finished off other appliances like braces and callipers which were delivered to us from other sections. We were separated from the main factory with a big door.

Going back on the family side, now our home was not comfortable any more. We were waiting again for Theresa to give birth to our fifth child, and I could see that in the near future we would have to shift again to a bigger house. Six months passed quickly before another beautiful and healthy baby girl came in this world to enrich our family. We named her Carmelina.

With Carmelina’s arrival at the Kensington home felt smaller still, but I was in no position to sell and buy houses like toys. We would have to sell our home and pay off our mortgage before organising a new loan for a bigger house. Where Silvana lived they were building big beautiful modern houses with garages, up to four bedrooms, a nice lounge, plenty of space round the kitchen and all on one level so pregnant wives did not have to climb up or down the stairs. I kept the idea of perhaps moving to St Albans in the back of my mind.

I had to buy a bigger car too, like a station wagon to accommodate everybody. I considered myself so lucky that my family were all healthy and we that we lived in a country with plenty of everything. I had a very good job, and together with a little extra part time work we were doing all right. We never missed out on anything—food, clothing, a car to get about in, and a good home.

Julie was still working at the same job and Frank was studying at Footscray High school and doing odd jobs, while Vince was growing up too and was now attending Kensington Primary School.

One day I received a letter from my sister Giovanna saying that our mother had passed away. Her death left in me a profound emptiness, and I felt like I’d been dealt another blow in my circumstance of life. I was sad because in my constant search to carve out my own future, I wasn’t able to be there when she needed me, not even at her funeral.

I decided to sell the block of land I owned at Ocean Grove with my brother in law Michael. Afterwards we decided to buy a block of land at a popular holiday spot on Phillip Island and set up beach houses next to each other. On Michael’s property there was already a temporary holiday shack with a little bedroom, electricity, a tank for rainwater and an outside toilet. In summer we would bring our families there. The land had a nice view of the sea and half a kilometre away there was a penguin rookery. The penguins would return at dusk from the sea, which attracted a lot of tourists who came in busses and cars to have a look at about 7pm every night.

I bought a caravan and put it on my block next to Michael’s, and for few years we had nice summertimes together. Michael had grown up daughters with boyfriends and we would organize barbeques and invite them too. During the day we would go to the beach which was about a ten minute walk away and I think this must have been our best times spending it together with the De Luca family.

When Josie was four years old and Carmelina was three our hands were really full, but luckily there was Julie to help her mother a bit round the house when she had time and if she had free time from her boy friend Toni.

Tina fell pregnant again after four years so we were encouraged to seriously consider buying a new property where Silvana was living. We our Kensington house up for sale and it took about six months to sell. Then we bought and moved into a brand new home at lot 101 Atheldene Drive in St. Albans. It was a lot more comfortable for us, with four bed rooms, a nice new kitchen, a garage, and positioned on a corner block. There was a lot of work to do on the outside, however, like concreting the footpaths, planting fruit trees and flowers which meant more work for me.

Some time passed before we had an addition to the family, a bouncing boy. We named him Domenic, after my brother in Robinvale. Luckily we were living in the new house and Tina could manage better with the baby. Tina made friends with a Chinese lady living opposite, who was very gentle and good company. Silvana lived not far from us and now and then she would drop by to help.

From the new house in St Albans I would drive to the station nearby and take a train to work. We worked to established ourselves in St Albans … a new area, new place, new schools, and new neighbours.

On one occasion Frank was doing a u-turn with my car in the shopping centre and collided with another car and I had to pay for all the damages. Frank married his lovely girlfriend Lucy from Foggian parents and a good family. He took his Diploma in Commerce and Banking and he and Lucy rented a flat in North Melbourne. Later they had a new house built in Greensborough on the northern hills of Melbourne which was a very good location, full of trees with a countryside look. They had two beautiful boys Christopher and James. Frank kept working with banking institutions for loans in real estate and he still does very well to this day.

At last, Julie finally married Toni Fabris who was from the north of Italy and one of only two boys in the family. He was working with the Motor Registration Office too where he met Julie. They went to live in a new house in St Albans and were only a ten minutes walk from us. The entire family now lived in three houses in St Albans. Julie later sold their house in St Albans and went to build a new house at Eltham on the northern hills among the trees and the birds, a very unique home with a touch of country style.

Julie and Toni both had very good Government jobs and everything seemed full of happiness and love for some years. But it didn’t remain this way. After Julie and Toni travelled through Italy and Queensland together the marriage broke down. Soon they separated, leaving all of us heart broken. Julie went to live in a flat in South Yarra and continued to work at the Registration Office.

Later on Julie met a young Australian man and they went together to Bundaberg in Queensland by car, three thousand kilometres away. Toni’s older brother had a big sugar cane farm, and there Julie felt she’d found paradise with ‘prince charming’. I paid Julie a visit in Queensland and I was impressed by their property. But Julie’s partner left, leaving her on the farm with his brother in charge. She did her best to make this new relationship work for three years living together. She fell pregnant to her new partner but he was not interested in the baby so she had to terminate the pregnancy. It was a very sad story for this loved daughter of mine and I her miss her so much.

Julie left the farm and bought a house in Bundaberg of her own where she started working for a Real Estate office. One morning I had a verbal disagreement with my wife and I decided right there on the spot to take my car and go to Bundaberg to visit Julie. It took me three days to get there, sleeping at night in motels. Julie came to meet me in a little town on the road with this other Australian man Terry, another guy full of bullshit with a big mouth. He was living in her house in the hope to help her finish off the place. I stayed with them for about a month.

The weather was beautiful and I drove around fishing and going to the beach. I went to the Italian Club to play bocce and I got to know other Italian seniors. All in all I had a great time and I wished I could have stayed longer. The weather was so nice, and I liked the country living life. Eventually though I had to return to Melbourne because Tina really missed and needed me, so Julie and Terry drove with me in Julie’s car for company. Terry was a divorcee with a daughter and he helped Julie in so many ways, especially on the house she was building. But in the end the relationship did not work out for the two of them.

Later our Senior Club in Springvale where I was president organized a trip to Surfer’s Paradise for two weeks for Tina and I. Julie came down from Bundaberg to stay with us for few days. We decided to hire a car and drive up to Bundaberg to give Tina a chance to see Julie’s home, and we stayed at Julie’s home for one night. Terry was gone from Julie’s life and she was with other divorcee Lindsely Wilson who helped her finish her house too.

In this period I started having trouble passing water and when I went to the doctor he referred me to a specialist who told me I had prostate gland problems. He said I had to have an operation. They discovered my blood was not normal, too thin they said, and my spleen had to be removed because it was not working. Suddenly I was facing two operations. Luckily enough I got through this bad episode of my life very well and after the operations I felt all right.