My Mom -- Mumsie as I called her after being in England for a tad. I'll start with the earliest memories and cease with her funeral.
Earliest bits that I remember -- she was at the hospital when I had a tonsillectomy at the age of four... I remember wanting balloons on my crib but was later told that I was afraid of them (really??). Jello, ice cream at the hospital -- yum!
I remember eating Lucky Charms and picking out the marshmallow bits first, my little brother in his crib, and always, always running to the porch for my long-promised Sinclair inflatable dinosaur at the age of three or four..
Why does it matter?? My biological father, who according to Mumsie, was a pro amateur golfer, worked at a Sinclair gas station. Back in the early 60s, an inflatable four or five foot dinosaur (their symbol) was available... I can't remember what was needed to get that dinosaur but hello, my father worked for them and he promised that he would give me one. It was the first thing that I wanted and never got. To accompany the disappointing father figure, who also did not show up to take me to the zoo (another story), I was feeling at a very young age that life was perhaps somewhat icky. You said 'I will bring you this' but you didn't. DAMMIT.
This is my favorite pic of her (May 1963):
Bloody hades, this is about my Mumsie! She left my biological father in 1964 (she had me at 18 and had left high school at 17 as she was pregnant with her firstborn daughter who was adopted. Figured that out when I was much older). Mumsie fought to keep me as my biological father wanted NOTHING to do with his offspring. I was born six weeks premature and was transported in an ambulance equipped with an incubator for 'preemies' to another hospital. Mumsie couldn't hold me for a month until I was released at a healthy weight. I consider it my first exposure to a tanning booth ;) while in the incubator.
We lived in a trailer for a bit near a friend of hers... Mumsie worked at a Shell department store in Miami and began dating 'he who became the step-monster' when I was 5. At that time, I was farmed off to a full-time babysitter who was an absolute nightmare. I ran away from that babysitter and walked barefoot to my Mom's workplace. The manager took me inside for a glass of milk and called Mumsie to come get me. Not long after that adventure, I was sent to a new babysitter whom I adored.
Mumsie married 'he who will be the step-monster' and now reffed as TSM when I was 8 or so... I was sick during their wedding at my grandparent's house. Maybe it was a premonition?
Skipping over the years -- Mumsie didn't work once we moved to Sweetwater (SW Miami) with TSM. Her first job that I recall was selling Mary Kay. Since TSM wouldn't allow her to learn to drive, he had to drive her everywhere (grocery store, clients). In fact, Mumsie didn't get behind the wheel of car and become a licensed driver until much later in Tennessee.
After I joined the Air Force, she decided to get her GRE and then attend LPN school. She graduated with honors and became an indispensable asset to a local nursing home. All her patients loved her.
She imbued me with the love of reading, played a vicious game of Monopoly, and always remains my brightest star. I miss her so much.
