My mom was barely 18 when she gave me life. She got pregnant at 17, turned 18, graduated high school, got married, and 5 months later was a happy first-time mother. I am the oldest child of my siblings, oldest grandchild on my mom's side and second oldest grandchild on my dad's side. Of course I was the center of attention for a while. When I was 19 months I became a big sister for the first time. My sister MalyndaSue (Mindy) was born and from all the pictures of us two I was the proudest big sister in the world, and I still am today.
From the stories I’ve heard, our small 4 person family lived with my paternal grandparents for a while. My mom doesn’t like to talk about that. She says there were a lot of bad things that happened during that time, but she never tells us what they were. I do believe her to some extent. My grandpa Stanley was an alcoholic, and wasn’t a nice person when he was drunk.We moved into an apartment in Rice, MN (not sure how old I was), it was right next to Highway 10. My Aunt Shari, her husband Mike, and their son Joe (who’s 25 months younger than me) lived across the hall. I remember a little from those days. Playing with the other apartment kids, when we didn’t have milk for our cereal we had to use Kool-Aid, and when my Aunt and her family moved out Mindy, Joe and myself threw our Jell-O onto their ceiling dying it red and green! Our parents were so mad. I remember the show Alf. When it came on Mindy would laugh and cry at the same time because she was so excited it was on but she was scared of Alf.
Sometime after that we moved into a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom mobile home on 10 acres of land. It was every kid’s dream! All that space to run & play, the woods to hide and explore in, the pond with ducks and algae to throw rocks in. I remember my little brother Mike and little sister Brit coming home from the hospital and helping to change their diapers. All 6 members of my family slept in our parents’ bedroom. Mom and dad on either side, mike and Brit in the middle, Mindy at the foot of the bed and I slept on the floor because I still wet the bed. Turns out my muscles to “hold it” weren’t fully developed, so a little nasal spray steroids and I was fine. We always had mice in that house which made for some pretty fun family mouse hunting nights.
The good times I remember: Summer vacations! Since I was old enough to watch my siblings we got to stay home without any adult supervision. We were always getting into something. Whether we were eating brown sugar and maple syrup mixed together, playing school, or restaurant, or tornado, or lava, or Brit was running around naked trying to sit on us. We had a swing set, a castle and of course our bikes. We would bike to our cousin’s house which was about a mile away, or bike to grandmas which was 2 miles away, or we would bike 4 miles, which for us was “around the block”. I also remember Saturday morning cartoons and cartoons after school. Power Rangers, Barney, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Dark Wing Duck, Tail Spin, Duck Tales, Gargoyles, Garfield, Smurfs, Full House, Boy Meets World, Step-by-Step, Sister-Sister, and Bill Nye the Science Guy! Sunday was cleaning day. We would wake up to old country music playing and mom sitting in the living room dusting, vacuuming, and mopping. Me and Mindy eventually moved into our room, we had bunk beds which sometimes would turn into a tree, or cave, or jungle. Mindy and I would make up songs. Our favorite being “All I Want For Christmas Is My 2 Big Boobs” or “Hooter Holders”. Oh man, we were lyrical geniuses. It makes me laugh singing the songs in my head; I still know all the lyrics. Then there were the nights when we’d have laugh attacks, and from the other side of the house mom or dad would be yelling at us to go to sleep, but of course that just made us laugh even harder.
When I was 13 my parents decided to start building their dream home. It was a log cabin, 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen with tons of cupboard space and a loft where our family room would be. While the house was being built we lived with my maternal grandparents. It was mom and dad in one room, mike got his own room, and the 3 sisters had to share a room. This is about the time my parents also decided they were getting a divorce. Mom introduced us to her “friend” David and dad moved back in with his mom. Mom and David got an apartment in Avon, then in Wait Park, and eventually St. Augusta; what my mom saw in that man I’ll never know. All the while Dad and us kids kept working on our dream home. We did everything ourselves! The plumbing, the electrical work, we pounded every nail, we put our blood, sweat, and tears into that house. I was throwing around 50 pound boxes of nails like they were nothing. When I was 16 my little brother DJ was born. We were all excited to have a baby brother to take care of. We weren’t too happy with whom his dad was but we love him no matter what.
Well that about covers my journey from home to home.
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