Unfortunately (or fortunately!) I'm an only child and all my counsins are in CA. But since Andy's family is my family now I'll tell about the summer I fell in love with Andy. We were 15 years old and I don't really know what clicked but all of a sudden I started getting those tingly feelings everytime I was around him. Andy only saw me as the girl who would play ball with him, go swimming, was at his house all the time because our moms were best friends. So he didn't really notice me. I would cry at night because I wanted him as my boyfriend and he wasn't yet interested in girls in 'that way'. One day I rode my bike over to his grandma's. After talking about nothing for awhile she finally said to me "Angela, you have something on your mind. Now why don't you just tell me about it". I started crying and told her I was in love with Andy but he wasn't with me. Bless her heart. She hugged me and said "Then let's see what we're going to do about that". Since it was summer and we swam a lot, Grandma C took me shopping and I bought this new bikini. My dad later told me I couldn't wear it away from home and I said I was only going to wear it at Amanda's house. (Hah! She's Andy's sister!!!! LOL) So the first day I went over, Andy was getting ready to get in the pool. I said "Andy, how do you like my new bathing suit?" He said "Geez, Angie, you really popped out this summer" then proceeded to bomb dive into the pool splashing water all over me! He said "Well don't just stand there. Get in so we can play pool volley ball." Oh, well. More later.

Angela

Oh you talked about being a thief, I did have a friend, who talked me into stealing a $3 bracelet, from then Eckerds. I will never forget. I walked in put the bracelet on and walked out the store, I think I was 15. I went home I felt so guilty. I told my mom and dad. I went back to the store. Pretended to try on other bracelets and just left it there. This friend also got me started smoking. She is now a minister. lol.

Unfortunately (or fortunately!) I'm an only child and all my counsins are in CA. But since Andy's family is my family now I'll tell about the summer I fell in love with Andy. We were 15 years old and I don't really know what clicked but all of a sudden I started getting those tingly feelings everytime I was around him. Andy only saw me as the girl who would play ball with him, go swimming, was at his house all the time because our moms were best friends. So he didn't really notice me. I would cry at night because I wanted him as my boyfriend and he wasn't yet interested in girls in 'that way'. One day I rode my bike over to his grandma's. After talking about nothing for awhile she finally said to me "Angela, you have something on your mind. Now why don't you just tell me about it". I started crying and told her I was in love with Andy but he wasn't with me. Bless her heart. She hugged me and said "Then let's see what we're going to do about that". Since it was summer and we swam a lot, Grandma C took me shopping and I bought this new bikini. My dad later told me I couldn't wear it away from home and I said I was only going to wear it at Amanda's house. (Hah! She's Andy's sister!!!! LOL) So the first day I went over, Andy was getting ready to get in the pool. I said "Andy, how do you like my new bathing suit?" He said "Geez, Angie, you really popped out this summer" then proceeded to bomb dive into the pool splashing water all over me! He said "Well don't just stand there. Get in so we can play pool volley ball." Oh, well. More later.

Angela

I had a friend like that too. When I was really young we would go into the grocery store and she would take things. One time I took pencil. I did not return it but I agonized over it for weeks. I just knew I was going to be found out and have to go to prison.


Another story involving my eldest son. We were in the grocery store and he took a candy bar. I didn't discover this theft until we had left the store. I took him back to the store and made him return the candy bar to the manager and say he was sorry. In later years he told me that was the most difficult thing he had ever had to do and he never stole again.

I bet he thought that was some April fools joke. Your story, of course, makes me think of an old movie. I don't remember the name of it but there was a statue and every woman that walked by it and touched it became pregnant. There must have been something in that office that was infecting everyone. ha ha

I have one my mom told me. When I was about 3 or 4. My grandpa Abbie, ( for whom I was Named) would come and visit. Everytime he would come and visit I would make him take me for a ride around the block in his car. Well one time my mom was taking a nap. When she woke up I was gone. She got frantic looking all over the house looking for me, then started looking outside. She said within a few minutes, which felt like hours. Me and grandpa drove up in the car. He died a few years after that. I wish I could remember him.

My great uncle was asleep on the couch in front of the TV. He was a rather sound sleeper and was not roused when the police came in, guns drawn, and encircled the couch. They uncerimoniously woke him up with various versions of "hands where I can see them" and "don't moves." He had no idea why they were in his home, a nice bungalow in a quiet little neighborhood, and they would not listen until they had checked his ID and searched the house. This was complicated by the fact that my great uncle was a WWII vet and collected more than a few guns.

They told him that they had a call of an armed break-in and that the caller said that she was hiding from a man with a gun, it was when cell phones did not have GPS for 911 so they could not tell where it was from except that the caller was a woman and gave my great uncle's address. She sounded shaken and distraught to the dispatcher and they were sent with lights and no sirens to ensure her safety. Finally, they realized that he was the homeowner and was not holding anyone hostage, my great aunt was out with her daughters-in-law, shopping and dinner I think.

It turned out that the call came from my cousin, she is schizophranic and she called the police from halfway across the state. They think that she was in her right mind at the time and just angry with her dad, but the prosecution could not get her convicted because of her condition. She repeated this a few times before they had enough to commit her to a psychiatric institution but they only kept her for a few months before she could sign herself out because she was back on her meds. She is really intelligent and could come up with some whoppers when she wants or is having a break (coffee, tea, and cookies with your dellusions, anyone?).

A few fries short of a Happy Meal, she is. Just one of the meriad of flakes and nuts that make up the breakfast cereal of my family.

I used to hate going to my mothers for her weekend visitaion, for many reasons I won't go into...but my big escape was the woods around her house. There was a lake back in the woods and I would sit there for hours. I used to snitch bread from the house and take off, whenever I didn't feel like it was safe to stay in the house. A section of the lake edge had this old cement part, like a damn, but small. I would lay on that cement, put a ball of bread on my hand, lay my hand down in the water palm side up and the bluegill baby fish would come up and eat off my hand. At first it took forever to get them to not be afraid, but after a few times it was like they were waiting for me there. The path back from the lake was a deer trail, which also ran through a big field. Once I was coming across the feild at dusk and saw some deer across the other side. I got down and crawled part way, stopping every time they looked up. I knew they couldn't smell me, because the wind was blowing from them to me. I got as close as I could, then lay down on my stomach. I am not sure how long I was there, but just when I was getting ready to get up (since the junebugs kept landing on me and I really dislike junebugs)...I heard a noise beside me. I looked, without moving and a deer was about 2 feet from me. It was dark, but the moon was out. I don't think she knew what I was. My heart was beating a mile a minute. She lowered her head and kept looking at me, finally she must have smelled me or something, because she stomped really hard with her front foot, snorted and took off.
I know to city people that sounds boring, but to a country girl...and animal lover, it was very exciting to me at that age. I saw a lot of cool things being out in the woods alone.

On my lunch break today I'm going to go through and read these stories, but I wanted share one I just heard last night at my mother's house. It's kind of sad, but funny--and in my family we always believe in going for the humor.

My oldest sister's husband, H, has Alzheimer's. It's been very sad to watch him as it progresses. He just turned 61 last month and was diagnosed 3 years ago (although I have to say that Baby Sister here "diagnosed" him a year earlier). He has really deteriorated in the last 7 or 8 months, and has been mostly nonverbal for about 3 months now. He just rarely says anything. Both of my sisters and their husbands and my mother and her best friend all went to the coast for a week. They took H to the ER one day because he kept falling asleep at random moments, like while he was eating. His heart rate was pretty slow and the doctors thought maybe it was his medication, so they cut back on it (I'm not sure what medication it was). By the third day he was talking and sometimes giving appropriate responses (like "Thank you" when someone handed him something at breakfast). On the last day they took him to the beach. As they were leaving a woman walked past them. She was a VERY large woman in a VERY small bikini. My middle sister and her husband just looked at each other and tried not to laugh. But H looked at her and said in a very loud voice, "HOLY SH*T!"

I don't know if the poor woman turned around and realized he was talking about her, but it sure did crack up the rest of the group (and some bystanders!).

My brother lost his first wife to an automobile accident. Their son was only 4 months, It was right before christmas. He moved back in with us(me, mom and dad). I was only 10 at the time. My mom became like his mom. My nephew would laugh in his sleep. My mom would say it was because his mother was playing with him. Well when he was 5 my brother remarried. My nephew took it hard. My mother couldn't visit for awhile, because he always wanted to go home with my mom, because for 5 years that was his mom. Well time passed and he accepted his new mom. My sister n law got pregnant about 3 yrs later. My nephew asked her, was I in your belly like that when I was a baby?
My sister n law told him no, you had another mom and left it at that, waiting to see what he would say. My nephew said, "Well I am glad your my mommy now." My sister n law cried.

I am loving everyones stories! I'm definitely not drinking the water where TGD works!

Well.....Andy and I are still 15 and his grandma keeps working on him and by now his grandpa is in on it, too. His grandma suggested to him that he and I go to a movie. Of course, it either had to be about sports or some GI Joe type movie for him to go, which is why I can't remember the name. So his grandparents tell him they will pick me up. (Oh......Andy is living with his grandparents at this time because he and his sister got into a HUGE fight. Andy refused to live in the same house with her and asked his Gparents if he could live with them for the rest of the summer). So they come to pick me up and Andy's Gpa said to him "Andy, be a gentleman and go get Angela at the door". (His Gma had told me to stay in the house until Andy came to the door) So he did and he even held the car door open for me. In the car, Gma turned around and said "Angela, you look so nice in that outfit. Doesn't she Andy?" He looked me up and down and said "Yea, you really do look nice. Is it new? Hey. I like your hair down like that, too. It's cute". OMG!!! He said "cute"!!!!! I can remember every single word! The outfit was new and I usually wore my hair up in a ponytail, but let it down and let it curl. OMG!!!! His Gma looked back at me and smiled and I could hardly contain myself.

Next, our first kiss.

Angela

I used to hate going to my mothers for her weekend visitaion, for many reasons I won't go into...but my big escape was the woods around her house. There was a lake back in the woods and I would sit there for hours. I used to snitch bread from the house and take off, whenever I didn't feel like it was safe to stay in the house. A section of the lake edge had this old cement part, like a damn, but small. I would lay on that cement, put a ball of bread on my hand, lay my hand down in the water palm side up and the bluegill baby fish would come up and eat off my hand. At first it took forever to get them to not be afraid, but after a few times it was like they were waiting for me there. The path back from the lake was a deer trail, which also ran through a big field. Once I was coming across the feild at dusk and saw some deer across the other side. I got down and crawled part way, stopping every time they looked up. I knew they couldn't smell me, because the wind was blowing from them to me. I got as close as I could, then lay down on my stomach. I am not sure how long I was there, but just when I was getting ready to get up (since the junebugs kept landing on me and I really dislike junebugs)...I heard a noise beside me. I looked, without moving and a deer was about 2 feet from me. It was dark, but the moon was out. I don't think she knew what I was. My heart was beating a mile a minute. She lowered her head and kept looking at me, finally she must have smelled me or something, because she stomped really hard with her front foot, snorted and took off.
I know to city people that sounds boring, but to a country girl...and animal lover, it was very exciting to me at that age. I saw a lot of cool things being out in the woods alone.

That is the sweetest and most touching story I've heard. Makes me cry!

I am loving these stories! Some make me cry, some make me laugh. Love them. OK, OK, my lunch break is almost over so I'll save the story about my grandmother and her gambler husband until I get home tonight.

I'm looking forward to the next installment in the saga of Andy and Angela.

So...the first kiss. It's 2 weeks before our 16th birthday.


So.........I'm getting tired of being coy. I knew what I wanted and I was going to get it. Andy asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I took a deep breath and told him "I want a kiss". At first he frowned then said "oh. You mean one of those big candy kisses?" (Urggg) "No, Andy, I mean a real kiss. And not just one on the cheek. I want a kiss on my mouth". He got this funny look and said "well who do you want to give you the kiss?" Here we go......"You, Andy. I want you to kiss me for my birthday". Whew To my surprise he got the tiniest smile on his face. You know, when you don't want anyone to see you're smiling but you can't quite not smile? He said....drum roll..."Okay" He started to turn away, then turned back and said "but what if you don't like the way I kiss?" I told him we'd keep practicing until I did!! I can't believe I said that! But he got that smile again, turned and walked away.

Angela


That's it? You stopped there! Oh, my; you're good! I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting for you to come back here and finish that story young lady!

On my lunch break today I'm going to go through and read these stories, but I wanted share one I just heard last night at my mother's house. It's kind of sad, but funny--and in my family we always believe in going for the humor.

My oldest sister's husband, H, has Alzheimer's. It's been very sad to watch him as it progresses. He just turned 61 last month and was diagnosed 3 years ago (although I have to say that Baby Sister here "diagnosed" him a year earlier). He has really deteriorated in the last 7 or 8 months, and has been mostly nonverbal for about 3 months now. He just rarely says anything. Both of my sisters and their husbands and my mother and her best friend all went to the coast for a week. They took H to the ER one day because he kept falling asleep at random moments, like while he was eating. His heart rate was pretty slow and the doctors thought maybe it was his medication, so they cut back on it (I'm not sure what medication it was). By the third day he was talking and sometimes giving appropriate responses (like "Thank you" when someone handed him something at breakfast). On the last day they took him to the beach. As they were leaving a woman walked past them. She was a VERY large woman in a VERY small bikini. My middle sister and her husband just looked at each other and tried not to laugh. But H looked at her and said in a very loud voice, "HOLY SH*T!"

I don't know if the poor woman turned around and realized he was talking about her, but it sure did crack up the rest of the group (and some bystanders!).

My brother lost his first wife to an automobile accident. Their son was only 4 months, It was right before christmas. He moved back in with us(me, mom and dad). I was only 10 at the time. My mom became like his mom. My nephew would laugh in his sleep. My mom would say it was because his mother was playing with him. Well when he was 5 my brother remarried. My nephew took it hard. My mother couldn't visit for awhile, because he always wanted to go home with my mom, because for 5 years that was his mom. Well time passed and he accepted his new mom. My sister n law got pregnant about 3 yrs later. My nephew asked her, was I in your belly like that when I was a baby?
My sister n law told him no, you had another mom and left it at that, waiting to see what he would say. My nephew said, "Well I am glad your my mommy now." My sister n law cried.

There are just so many stories all of them good. It just shows that everyone has an interesting life. I want to respond to all but with a slow computer it is hard.
I'm sorry Kim you had to feel afraid when visiting your mothers. I had to do the visit thing too but I don't recall ever being afraid. My mother lived in the city and my brother, father and I in the country and I loved it. I thought your story was great. I know about deer,fish and etc. but anyone would enjoy that story.
I have just a little one about a doe and my brother. I was uploading pics the other day and I ran across one of Rickey feeding a doe. I asked him about it because by this time I was married and out of the home and had no memory of it. I asked him how he found it. He told me him and Daniel Boone found it swimming across the river and they retrieved it. Well I thought he was telling me a tale. Really, Daniel Boone. I doubted it but he assured me the kids name was really Daniel Boone. I thought about it and figured for around here someone really might name thier kid Daniel Boone. Anyway here is the pic. My brother and the doe.



I also asked what became of it. He said a conservation agent came and got it. They needed a deer for some kind of animal display or something like that.

awww.....thank you, lenore! I actually didn't think anybody would pay much attention. You all have such neat stories to tell. I've been laughing and crying. Can't bring myself yet to tell stories about my dad. I"m sure most of you think I'm pretty much a baby not yet getting over his death since it's been over 3 months. Please try to be patient with me.

So...the first kiss. It's 2 weeks before our 16th birthday. Since our parents were close we got gifts from each others parents, but Andy and I would give each other something from the time we were little. His presents to me.....well.....one year he gave me a jar with a frog in it. He thought that was the "most special gift" anybody could get. One year I got all his duplicate baseball cards. AFterall, who wouldn't want those? Oh, Andy. Just a little boy being a little boy!! As we got older and had a little money to spend it would be favorite CD's or favorite movies.

So.........I'm getting tired of being coy. I knew what I wanted and I was going to get it. Andy asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I took a deep breath and told him "I want a kiss". At first he frowned then said "oh. You mean one of those big candy kisses?" (Urggg) "No, Andy, I mean a real kiss. And not just one on the cheek. I want a kiss on my mouth". He got this funny look and said "well who do you want to give you the kiss?" Here we go......"You, Andy. I want you to kiss me for my birthday". Whew To my surprise he got the tiniest smile on his face. You know, when you don't want anyone to see you're smiling but you can't quite not smile? He said....drum roll..."Okay" He started to turn away, then turned back and said "but what if you don't like the way I kiss?" I told him we'd keep practicing until I did!! I can't believe I said that! But he got that smile again, turned and walked away.

Angela

I was always an animal freak...I read animal encyclopedias and fact books all the time. The library was my favorite place to be...then, the woods.

Thats a neat old picture. My dad had all kinds of animal pets as a kid, including a fawn that sucked on his earlobes, which they finally set free when it was getting horns and got aggressive. He even had a little chipmink he carried around in his shirt pocket. Gram said he would put a peanut in one pocket of his shirt, the chipmunk would come out...run across his shoulders and into that other pocket. Then he would put a peanut in his other pocket and back it would run again. He grew up way in the boonies, clear up by Lake Superior.

No worries...all kids have rough childhoods. Its what makes us strong...and it wasn't my mother that I didn't want to see (although she was drunk most of our visits or sick with a hangover)...her 2nd husband was a creep.

I was going to do this last night, but of course being totally unaware of events in my RL I was suddenly hit with the knowledge that school starts tomorrow and my daughter needs school supplies. So we had to go shopping--something I absolutely HATE. But we did go the to food court to eat and that's always fun. I got Chinese, she got Mexican, we put both plates in the middle and shared. So, on to Granny G and the Gambler.

My dad was the youngest of 5 children, and there were 3 other children that died in infancy. Granny was 42 years old when he was born and his oldest brother was 20. My grandfather was Granny's second husband. Her first husband was--yep, a gambler. This would have been early 1900's--my uncle was born in 1907. They traveled around the west and lived in big gambling towns like Virginia City and San Francisco. She said that he would come home in the middle of the night with jewelry--diamond necklaces, ruby bracelets, etc. And no matter what time it was (2 AM, 4 AM) or what the weather was like, as soon as he left she always bundled up my Uncle T and went out and sold the jewelry. Then she would go spend all of the money on food and clothes. She never kept the jewelry or cash around because when his winning streak ended, he would be back looking for it. He would disappear for weeks and sometimes months at a time. When Uncle T was about a year old, he disappeared for a year. She had to take whatever jobs she could to support herself and her baby. Then her husband showed up and stayed just long enough to get her pregnant again. He disappeared again before she even realized she was pregnant, and this time she never saw him again.

Now the rumors were that he not only got her pregnant, but gave her syphilis as well. When Aunt M was born, the doctors told her that she contracted syphilis during birth and would die within days. She didn't die, so then they told her that she would be blind. But she wasn't blind either. Granny said that when she would go for a walk with Aunt M in her carriage and Uncle T holding onto her skirt, people would stop and stare and whisper about the baby with syphilis. Did she really have it? Who knows? My mother pointed out when I was a teenager that there was no cure for it then, so if Granny really had it she likely would have died long before she ever had my father.

Granny eventually divorced the Gambler and moved back to Illinois where her family lived. She met and married my grandfather. Hmm... I guess that's a long enough story for now. I'll tell about "The Depression Years" later.

Well I can tell you another story, but its not as nice. You see, my nephew was raised with my mom and my grandmother ( god rest her soul). Well like I said with "legacy" prejudice is taught. Well my mother and grandmother used a word, I don't like when referring to Black people. And I knew better, but this 5 yr old didn't. So you have older people raising a young child he picks up words he shouldn't. So my sister n law was at the grocery store with him one day, and he asked her if this black lady was a N..... and used the word. Well poor child didn't know any better. And the woman thought this was her son. Now my sister n law hadn't raised him, so It wasn't her fault that this word came out of this boys mouth. She said she wished the floor would have just opened up and swallowed her up. So that's why I say, children aren;t born racist, we teach them that. I am so glad I knew better than my mother and grandmother. I don't remember my dad being that way. But my mom wasn't as bad as my grandmother, but in her time that word was widely used. Working night shift at the hospital, I was the only white nurse. The only thing I can remember and it wasn't because he was black, it was because he was a boy. In the 3rd grade I was afraid to go to school, cause a bunch of girls said I would have to marry this boy. I told momma, I wasn't ready to get married. I thought for sure they could make me get married. I told my teacher, but she was so mean and cruel and told me how stupid I was. I later met that teacher. She was my husband's aunt. She said, I heard you said I was the meanest teacher you ever had. Well I was grown, so I said, yes you were, lol.

That Andy,what a boy. Cute story, keep em coming.
I do not think you are a baby for not being over your Dad's death. My Daddy has been gone 6 yrs and I'm not over it but I do enjoy talking about him and in time you will too.



My Mother drank a lot too. Both of my parents enjoyed the good times but Daddy knew when it was time to work and take care of responsibilities. I don't want anyone to think I didn't love my Mother. I did love her very much so I have decided, after much thought, to talk of her a little.
When she was 49 she contracted TB. I have always thought it was because the drinking kept her in a run down condition. She was in the hospital for a year but did recover and came home. Needless to say the drinking stopped but my stepfather continued with his. I'm sure this was hard on her. She didn't have a lot of good lung tissue left and was sick a lot of the time. The last time she was hospitalized. She was in bad shape and had to be on a respirator. She was there 2 months before passing away. I stayed in the hospital with her the whole time only leaving to shower and change clothes The last nite of her life I was there helping the nurse to clean her. I pulled her toward me and she somehow found the strength to reach around me and pat me on the bottom. This is starting to get hard. I , of course, was touched by that. Anyway I went out to the waiting room where I slept on one of the couches and prepared to go to sleep. I had never had trouble sleeping there before but I could not go to sleep that nite. I even took a tranquilizer that I had, thinking that would put me to sleep. Still I struggled but I finally dozed off. Right after the nurse came to get me. I asked her if she was worse and she said yes. I went to the room and she was already gone. I know ,to some, this may sound a little crazy but I have always felt she was calling to me somehow and I have always felt bad that I didn't go to her sooner that nite. She was only 58.
When my children were born she always was so happy and would sit with me in the hospital if I was living near her. When my last child was born she was not well but she sat with me all nite, almost as if she was trying to make up for some of the short comings of her youth.



That's a great story ciaddict. Poor Granny. She had a rough time of it. I think your mother is correct that there wasn't a cure for syphilis. 1907. I do know they had treatment for it later. I was a lab tech in RL and you would be amazed at the number of old people that had a positive syphilis test. Once a person has had it they will always carry a positive. It was a rampant disease in those days. My father had it as a young man in the 30's. He never confessed this to my brother but he told me. He said him and my Mother waited so long to have me for fear something would be wrong with a baby. Thankfully they did have me and I was ok.
Did you get to know your Granny? I can just imagine the stories she could tell.

That Andy,what a boy. Cute story, keep em coming.
I do not think you are a baby for not being over your Dad's death. My Daddy has been gone 6 yrs and I'm not over it but I do enjoy talking about him and in time you will too.



My Mother drank a lot too. Both of my parents enjoyed the good times but Daddy knew when it was time to work and take care of responsibilities. I don't want anyone to think I didn't love my Mother. I did love her very much so I have decided, after much thought, to talk of her a little.
When she was 49 she contracted TB. I have always thought it was because the drinking kept her in a run down condition. She was in the hospital for a year but did recover and came home. Needless to say the drinking stopped but my stepfather continued with his. I'm sure this was hard on her. She didn't have a lot of good lung tissue left and was sick a lot of the time. The last time she was hospitalized. She was in bad shape and had to be on a respirator. She was there 2 months before passing away. I stayed in the hospital with her the whole time only leaving to shower and change clothes The last nite of her life I was there helping the nurse to clean her. I pulled her toward me and she somehow found the strength to reach around me and pat me on the bottom. This is starting to get hard. I , of course, was touched by that. Anyway I went out to the waiting room where I slept on one of the couches and prepared to go to sleep. I had never had trouble sleeping there before but I could not go to sleep that nite. I even took a tranquilizer that I had, thinking that would put me to sleep. Still I struggled but I finally dozed off. Right after the nurse came to get me. I asked her if she was worse and she said yes. I went to the room and she was already gone. I know ,to some, this may sound a little crazy but I have always felt she was calling to me somehow and I have always felt bad that I didn't go to her sooner that nite. She was only 58.
When my children were born she always was so happy and would sit with me in the hospital if I was living near her. When my last child was born she was not well but she sat with me all nite, almost as if she was trying to make up for some of the short comings of her youth.



That's a great story ciaddict. Poor Granny. She had a rough time of it. I think your mother is correct that there wasn't a cure for syphilis. 1907. I do know they had treatment for it later. I was a lab tech in RL and you would be amazed at the number of old people that had a positive syphilis test. Once a person has had it they will always carry a positive. It was a rampant disease in those days. My father had it as a young man in the 30's. He never confessed this to my brother but he told me. He said him and my Mother waited so long to have me for fear something would be wrong with a baby. Thankfully they did have me and I was ok.
Did you get to know your Granny? I can just imagine the stories she could tell.

Both of my parents drink, but dad was able (with the help of gram) to work, and raise and take care of 4 kids. So I give him tons of credit for that. My dad is very specail. i love my mother too, but I have found...now that i am an adult...that I am better off not sticking aorund her and her abuse. She isn't a nice person, even when she isn't drunk.
I am sorry to have brought up sad thoughts for you.

On a funny note...I once caught a snake on my fishing pole, from the boat! And in my fear and haste to get rid of it, pulled the darn thing into the boat with my dad and I. by the time her caught it, took the hook off its lip and dropped it into the water...i was as far to the point of the boat as I could get. After that, he taught us not to be afraid of snakes, they wouldn't hurt us if we were careful with them...and he broght us little green grass sankes to play with and then set free again.

Your story about your mother made me cry, Lenore.

And yes, I did get to know my Granny. She lived in this great old white clapboard (not sure it that's the right term) house with a big porch. She had this old roll-top desk and the bottom drawer is where she kept toys and games for the grandkids to play with. My favorite thing to play with was set of poker chips. I have no idea why they were so much fun, but they were! Maybe because I wasn't allowed to play with my parents' poker chips--those were reserved for card game nights with their friends. I thought her basement was the scariest place in the whole world. I drive by that house whenever I'm in that town (not too far from where I live). A couple of years ago I noticed that someone had covered the house in stucco. STUCCO?! Give me a break!

Clapboard is the right term. My grandparents had one too and the front porch. A shame it got covered in stucco. Don't people know their messing with our memories.

Granny met and married my grandfather in Illinois and they had 6 more children, 3 of whom died in infancy. My dad was the youngest and when he was about a year old they moved to California. My grandfather and his brother bought an orange grove here in the San Joaquin Valley. I believe my uncle put up the money and my grandfather (and family) lived in the grove and ran it. Of course, it was '28 or '29 when they came to CA--just in time for the Depression. My dad said that for years the orange grove made just enough money to run it--but not to pay my grandfather anything. They raised chickens and he said they ate chicken almost every night. He used to joke that he grew up eating chicken because they were so poor, then married my mother who served Fried Chicken every Sunday as a special meal!

Fried chicken on Sunday. In our house too. I'll bet grandfather ate it and was grateful.

My dad was still 17 when he graduated from high school and he immediately signed up to join the Navy because it was WWII. But the war ended just about the time he finished basic training, so he was discharged. My uncle died and because they were brothers and everything was done with a handshake, the orange grove was in my uncle's name only. His widow "fired" my grandfather, told him that he and Granny had to leave the house, and promptly sold the grove (and of course didn't give any of the money to my grandfather). So they moved into town and he went to work for the elementary school as a janitor. He died of a heart attack before I was born.

Granny G had 18 grandchildren and lived on a fixed income. So for Christmas every year each granddaughter got a bottle of Jergens lotion. The smell of Jergens still takes me back to my childhood. I don't know what the grandsons got--I only had sisters and who cared about the annoying boy cousins? On our birthdays, we each got a birthday card in the mail--and somehow it always arrived on our birthdays, never a day before or day after, unless a birthday was on a Sunday. Until we turned 18 we also got a crisp dollar bill in the card. After 18 all you got was the card. My birthday is April 6 and Granny's was April 7. The day before my 15th birthday (and two days before her 85th), Granny had a heart attack at home. She was still conscious and she got the phone and called my uncle who lived close by. There was no answer so she drove herself to her doctor's office (she still had her license and a BIG old car). She walked into the doctor's office, had another heart attack and died. I've always said that's how I want to go.

A great way for Granny to go. Daddy drove himself to the hospital and we always say that if he could have he would have driven himself to the undertakers. This generation knew how to take care of themselves. They were proud and took the hard knocks as they came.

I'll bet that Jergens lotion is a nice smell for you. My grandparents were careful, frugal people. I always got a book tho and was overjoyed with it. My father never tired of telling us that all he got for Xmas was an orange and alittle candy.















The next day I got my birthday card and dollar bill in the mail. I wish I could tell you that I saved that dollar bill, but I didn't. I have no idea what I used it for--most likely candy. Even when I was 15, a dollar didn't buy much.

This was the grandmother who was a member of the DAR. My dad said that his father always said that "her ancestors came over on the Mayflower, and mine were here to greet them." I thought my grandfather must have been the most clever person in the world--until I discovered that Will Rogers is the one who said that and made it famous. Suppose Will got it from my grandfather?

That's ok Kim. I think of all of you as my friends and am finding it therapeutic to be able to talk about things sad and funny.
Funny story about the snake. I found a garter snake the other day and got it for my grandson.
to play with but told him not to pick up a snake at grandma's house without checking with Daddy or grandma. We have some bad ones here.




Oh yeh, Will got it from your grandfather. Odd you would mention Will Rodgers. A favorite of my fathers. He loved the Will Rodgers humor.