Mom & the girls...

To my friend, who prompts me to address discrepancies in my ramblings...

In my 16 & emancipated post I eluded to 'mom' and the girls...

"Lasted with a patient uncle for a few months, and then I moved out at 15 with a wonderful lady and her daughter. That too lasted a few months, and I was too big for my britches."

This wonderful woman took me in and became "mom" forever more, and the girls my sisters. While I only actually lived with her during that critical year from 15 to 16, they are family, and where my holidays are spent.

trailer

I can't remember whether this was the nice one, or the crappy one... a 10 year old memory is much different.... however, jenn reminds me that there were two adults, and 4 kids living here. marty's kids, mary and i. Thanks to Jenn, who lives in SC, for sending this picture!

The "horse" house

Remember one of my very first posts?:

a rented house? frequently out of gas, big natural gas/oil tank out front for heating.. frequently empty and cold.. didn't pay the bill? Fans on the floor, horses out back belonging to owners, horse had a foal, lots of blacberry patches, lots of blackberry picking.

Well, thanks to facebook, and reconnecting with jenn, or "marty's kids" as I may have mentioned in my blog, I have a picture. =)

Dad & Germany

so my dad managed to track down his real parents in Germany... through friends who are near Offenbach. Apparently both his parents weren't german after all.. his mother was italian (my grandmother), and his father was german (my grandfather). He had other siblings, and he was the youngest and given away since they couldn't afford to raise more kids. I have to check dad's letters, but their last name was GERMAN. Dad went and visited the only sibling that is still alive, a sister, and she is in the states.. he said there is a massive italian side of the family.

Awanas

Atheist...

i remember growing up, thanks also to mary, let me jot a few thoughts:
* rather than girl scouts, we had "awanas?" -- how many bible verses you memorized and how many people you converted to christ won you patches
* weeks and weeks of vacation bible schools
* Mary and marty sitting in trances, looking weird with glazed eyes, talking saying that it wasn't them talking, but rather god talking through them
* being tackled by mary and marty who would "annoint" my head with oil crosses to drive the devil out
* lots of "abra ladkjfflk hghghgh ddkkkeeee" - lol, talking in tongues by Mary, Marty, and where we went to church
* lots of paranoid hiding from people who were supposedly "devil worshippers"

More..In Response to Questions

"Becoming a book worm..."
5 Comments - Show Original Post
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ajtrogue said...
My daughter reads like that. Me, not so much. I have various theories why. But I still love to read...just nice and slow...

Did your mother read? To herself or to you? What was the first book you remember reading yourself? I'm convinced my children read as well as they do because my ex-wife and I read to them daily until they could read on their own.

So what kind of salad dressing WILL you eat?

Who were your friends in 5th grade?

How would you describe the librarian?

What did your mother think/comment about all of your reading?

Tell me to shut up if my comments are annoying. :)

February 7, 2011 5:57 PM


Leila F. Search said...
Actually, I have no recollection of my mother reading to either me or herself. And I don't know where it started.. I was always in the talented and gifted programs at school, and remember always winning book reading contests.. but think it began with the many hours spent by myself, not leaving the house, and no tv.

I seem to have such a bad memory and don't remember the librarian, except perhaps as a friendly face at school. Not many friends at school, especially in 5th-7th... remember it being a time I was ridiculously made fun of (really tall for my age & still tall), a nerd, and the poor kid with the salvation army clothes.

I don't remember my mom commenting on my reading either... in fact, now that I am recalling some facts.. I think this time period was 6th grade, not 5th.. because 5th grade was home school with Abeka books, ugh!

February 8, 2011 2:31 PM


ajtrogue said...
How tall? Then, now? Then...if not in feet/inches, compared to the others. Six inches more? Twelve?

Who, what, when, where, why, which, how? Those are the initial questions I ask myself when I write, followed by "Describe..." and "Then what happened?"

Which movie (or book) character(s) remind(s) you of you at that age?

How long was your hair then (compared to now)? How did you wear it?

What kind of shoes did you wear?

Describe your salvation army clothes.

What is your theory for why your memory is "bad?" (btw - it seems pretty amazing to me.)

How did you get to/from school?

How did the other kids "make fun" of you? What did they say/do? How did they look at you?

I think every school had (& has) a kid like you in it. Did you know that one of the most progressive nutritional programs in schools today is the backpack program. Maintained largely by church youth, backpacks of donated heat & serve food are provided to needy children in schools by counselors when they leave on Friday afternoon. This way, they'll have food over the weekend if the parents don't provide food for them. How would a program like that have made a difference for you?

Hope I'm helping to jog your memory... *smile*

February 9, 2011 3:19 PM


Leila F. Search said...
Hi! I will eat oil & vinegar on my salad, and I particularly like ginger salad dressing (best served at a japanese restaurant ;)

I don't remember friends in 5th grade... we really truly moved all the time, or were so "poor" that I was quite mad fun of (or seem to recall). We did the salvation army shopping etc. i honestly don't remember.

I don't remember my mother thinking anything about my reading.. she probably thought it was a good babysitter however, since that's what I did waiting for her to come home.

March 17, 2011 8:01 PM


Leila F. Search said...
So in further response.. finally... =) tall, being about 6" taller than the average girls in class.. and today that is about 6'1" ;)


I mostly remember walking to school...but only start remembering around 5th grade..prior to that I don't know.

That backpack program sounds intriguing and definitely meets the needs of low income kids. We always had breakfast and lunch covered by the free lunch program, but weekends... well, I don't really recall going hungry, except the time she did it on purpose... but we always received the holiday baskets for turkey and food for the 'poor' familes ;)

March 17, 2011 8:05 PM

Becoming a book worm...

I was always smart in school, but think I became the book worm I am today in 5th grade. We are in the South Carolina trailer park, but we are in the nicer trailer, not the tiny efficiency one. She goes to work in the evenings.. I think at the grocery store? Bi-Los? Every afternoon I am to let my self in, not leave the house or open the door and she comes home late from work. I am not allowed to watch tv.. and we only have one tiny 12 inch black and white that she plugs in for the one program I am allowed to watch... i still remember -- High Mountain Rangers -- or something. so I read. and I read a lot. Every day I check out 2-3 books from the library, the librarian is my friend and let's me exceed the maximum number of books to be checked out ( I think it's one or two). I easily read 2 books a night... this year I recall reading all the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Boxcar Kids, Sweet Valley High, and chronicles of narnia.

A crazed bookworm was born.

Why I won't eat thousand island dressing

I think I was about 10.. can't remember. We don't have food, or rather Mary isn't feeding me. She has me sitting on a couch all day and all night trying to make me recollect memories of something, whatever I can remember about father. What? I really don't understand.. she questions me over and over about my aunt and uncle and a time when I was 5 or 6, and then over and over about a time I last saw my father at 3? She truly is nuts... doesn't feed us for a least a couple days, telling me that fasting is good for the soul. When we do finally eat.. it's flour and water fried patties with ketchup and mayonnaise mixed together.. to this day I won't eat thousand island dressing..

Value of collected aluminum cans

We are constantly collecting soda cans... always remember crushing and adding them to plastic bags. We turn them in and collect money for cans by the pound...where are we and how old am I? I don't remember.

16 years old and emancipated

These aren't in order, but rather as I recollect. After mary (mom) put me on the bus to Colorado I didn't see her for more than 10 years. Roger (dad) who I hadn't known since I was 2 may have tried his best... but it was quite difficult. I was used to stealing food stamps from mary to get food, running around in the night, doing anything while she prayed... and roger, well, bed by 8 pm (I was 13!) and a glass of milk every night. Quite a shocker. I stayed through the remainder of 8th grade and most of 9th, but then went to visit my aunt and uncle in Maryland, and never went back.

I don't have much memory of why I didn't go back -- but apparently I told dad I wouldn't go back, or I thought he didn't want me back.

Lasted with a patient uncle for a few months, and then I moved out at 15 with a wonderful lady and her daughter. That too lasted a few months, and I was too big for my britches.

At 16 I dropped out of the high school international baccalaureate program and registered at the local community college (I went on to get 2 masters degrees later in life) and went to court to get emancipated.

From 16 on, I have lived and supported myself.. very interesting times...