8:50am Writing Warm-ups 40° Boise
It rained hard and woke me up at 5:30 this morning. The rain pounded at the windows of my bedroom, must have been coming from the west. The wind blew and the rain slashed for about ten minutes and then I was back to sleep and knew nothing more until the alarm went off at 7:30 --- time to place the ball under my neck and begin to wake up.
During my wake up practice, I was thinking about my earliest memories, trying to remember my mother in any way except asleep. Did she talk to us? Did she hold us, read to us, tell us stories? Did she sing to us? That last question gave me pause. She was a fabulous singer, she brought us to LA so that she could have a chance at a career using her talents. Why do I not remember one time when she sang to us? I remember her singing to Mark when he was a baby. She spent plenty of time rocking him and singing to him.
Gerald and I were simply too much for her. I'm sure she spent a lot of time wishing she had never had children. We got yelled at a lot. We were on our own so much, we got resourceful. Wow, I just remembered why we got sent to live with Auntie Jan and other relatives in Oregon! I ate a bunch of big vitamin pills, I remember the taste. They must have had a lot of iron in them. When mom discovered that they were gone, she rushed Gerald to the ER and had his stomach pumped, only to realize that it was me who took them, not Gerald. Before that there had been several episodes --- me trying to cook pancakes and the horrible mess that entailed and then my adventures in hair cutting, scalping us both to the quick more than once. Scissors where magical and they had to be hidden from me or I would cut up anything I found. But the vitamin incident was the last straw.
There was more than one bus trip from California to Oregon, even one where Gerald and I traveled unaccompanied. I'm not sure of the timing of that one but I remember parts of it vividly. The bus driver hated us because we couldn't stop kicking the back of his chair. We were in his care and had to ride in the seat right behind him. We had coloring books and story books but I don't remember food at all. And that was a very long trip! We probably went straight north through Bakersfield, on to Sacramento then up to Portland. We were probably met by Auntie Jan in Portland. We would have had to change buses there and we would have needed help. Racking my brain, I think that had to be before mom met dad, that was how we got to Oregon after the vitamin event.
So how long were we with her in LA before she sent up back north? She met Dad in 1958 and they married on August 30th. How long was that after we were gone? I remember time spent in Baker with Uncle Pep and Auntie Colleen. A litter of puppies were born and we watched Uncle Pep crop their tails. I remember a meal that included corn-on-the-cob and being taught how to eat it. The house was green and it was on the corner of Clark and Campbell, long since torn down. We were given a nickle each and off to York's market we went and then on to the park with a bucket to catch crawdaddies. Crayfish, but we called them crawdaddies. Many a happy hour was spent in the Powder River where it ran through the city park. How old were we then? There were the five of us: Linda, the oldest, a few months older than me, then me, then Mike, then Gerald, then Kit, the youngest. Trying to fit the timing in with this memory is difficult. I turned five years old in April of 1958, Gerald was four in June. We were all so young! Could it really be true that we were riding the bus alone for 800 miles? That we were sent to the park at that age? Blocks from home? If not then, when? Mom came to get me after she married Dad the end of August. Just how long were we away from her? I wish I had asked her all this while she was still alive!
Interesting. I remember so much more than I thought, I just wish I remembered when. I haven't even gotten to the time spent with Auntie Jan and Uncle PeeWee out at Doobie Ranch in Keating. I know the timing of that one because I remember when Mom came to get us in September of 1958. Pictures were taken of a dress-up that Mom and Auntie Jan had with us. I might go look for them, I could try to figure the actual dates of that but it happened at the ranch, I know that for sure.
This will all be Part One. My early life and even some of Mom's early life. I have Auntie Jan's memoir to help fill in their early story. And the stories before that I have in the shed.
I gave notice on Studio 21 last night and Horace is cool with it. He's even bought those two chairs I got for free. $20 each, deducted from the March rent for #23. Score! So instead of paying $318, I'll be paying $114. Also, I have decided to pay off the Sears card and then transfer the Capital One balance to that card with a 4% interest rate for two years. I'll keep paying $50 a month for Wells Fargo or I could transfer that balance as well, consolidate and only have one payment for a credit card. I could have them all paid off in a year and save money on interest. Then whatever goes onto the Capital One card gets paid off monthly. That will be good for a credit builder. So all is going well for me financially. Finally!
OK, that's it. Good day with the warm-up! Yaaay!
