I was three years old when my younger sister Patti was born. Isn't it interesting that most people can't remember when they were three. Because of that I don't remember how I felt when she was born. But I do remember that when she was two and in the hospital with pneumonia I was jealous of all the attention she received and the toys she got when she came home. I don't think she was allowed visitors because I have a memory of looking through a window in a door into the room where she was in the hospital. Our house was very festive when she came home. I don't know if she nearly died. My parents never said.
 |
| Joan, Patricia and Suzanne - about 1950 | |
|
|
Pretty much from that time on until we were in high school, Patti and I shared a bedroom. And today memories of that flood back at me. We fought - all the time. She had a blackboard in our bedroom that she would write things like "I hate my sister", over and over so one day I wrote on it that she was adopted. I think she almost believed me. Sometimes we would put tape on the floor to divide the space. But there were also the times when at night in bed together we would tell each other our dreams. That was one of the best times of having a sister!
At one time I was sharing a room with Joanie. We had bunk beds and Joanie was on the upper bunk. During the night if I needed to go to the bathroom, I would wake her up and she would use the wooden side to the bed to reach across the room and turn on the ceiling light for me and then turn it out again when I got back.
Probably when I was about 10 or 11 Joanie made a habit of giving me a candy or a cookie. She told me that she made them in her bed at night. And - I believed her! Ah, the innocence back in those days before TV and computers. One day I was looking for something and opened one of her drawers and found a pack of cookies. I was so mad at her for lying to me all that time!
The first time I remember living in government housing was in Illinois. I was six years old and in first grade. There were some really important things that happened while we were there. I made my first best girlfriend and we were inseparable. We even learned to talk through the wall as our bedrooms backed up to each other. Her name was Christine and though I didn't think about it at the time I named my daughter, it probably played into my choice of a name for her. Christine and I played dress-up often and we even managed to come down with Chicken Pox at the same time.
 |
| Suzie and Christine - best friends |
While we lived there we found and rescued a baby starling. I think we also had a parakeet at one time. Patti and I (and probably Christine) were allowed to play in the rain water running down the gutters after big summer rains......in our panties. That memory appalled me in my early teens! Patti had a stuffed animal that went everywhere with her. At one time she lost it and we were all enrolled to search everywhere for Mikie. I was scared to look in cupboards because I was afraid I would find him all torn up. I have no idea why I was so frightened but we found him in fine condition! This is also where we were living when I found out that boys have two balls and a bat! Two bothers in our complex loved bragging about that and I had to ask my mother what they were talking about. I guess it is easier if you have a brother but we didn't!
 |
| Christine and Suzie playing dress-up |
I found another picture of Christine and I. As I said, we were inseparable.
No comments:
Post a Comment