Peckish

I'm not sure how old you are, but it's entirely possible that it could have been "the times", or maybe he just wasn't capable of raising a daughter, especially if you were the only child.

My grandfather and his brother were put into an orphanage at a very young age after their mother had a stroke and drowned while swimming. This despite the fact that they still had a father. But I guess single fathering just wasn't done back in those days. They lived in the orphanage until their dad remarried. Unfortunately the stepmom was a witch.

My grandfather is the sweetest, most gentle, most law-abiding, kindest person I have ever known, DESPITE the fact that at age 5, he tried but failed to save his drowning mother; DESPITE the fact that he lived in an unpleasant, loveless orphanage until his early teens; DESPITE the fact that he spent his teen years with a horrid, physically, mentally abusive stepmother. I think about this every time I hear of criminals who get off because they had a bad childhood. Put me on the jury, please.

Another fascinating tidbit: I remember reading a news story a few years back about a family whose toddler son had vanished many, many years ago. A man (I want to say he was in his 60's?) had come forward, requesting a DNA test because he suspected he was that toddler. As I read further into the story, I was shocked to learn that the mother had left the child outside the grocery store as she shopped, and he had vanished while she was inside. There had been a lot of searching and publicity, but he was never found. I was aghast and was talking to my grandmother about this and said, "Who on earth would ever leave a child outside a grocery store, unattended?? Especially one so young?" She told me they used to do it all the time! My mom was born in 1950 and my grandma said the moms would go to the grocery store, park the kids in strollers at the front entrance, and go inside to shop. Nobody thought twice about it.