I can remember as far back as being in a walker frustrated and wanting to knock some books on the floor to get some attention from my mom who was busy making dinner in the other room. Her eyes were always on me, I was determined to get those books on the floor and then she would come. I know thats what I was wanting to do, even though my mom thought I just liked to knock them on the floor for any reason. I see pictures of me when I was a baby younger than the walker stage that I don't remember when my grandmother on my dads side would call on pretty days and ask my mother, "Charlotte where is Cara, why aren't you both outside?" Playpens in the back yard and a dog named Cuddles biting bees to keep them away from me, my own private body guard. I had the very best childhood with the fondest of memories from "fruit time" as my mom would call it to friday nights ice skating followed by fries at friendlys. My mother would yell this fruit time stuff that killed me with embrassment my block mates who would tease me to no end. That wouldn't last long when mom would invite the who entire block for a watermelon party on hot afternoons kids would like up at the back porch. At night time, I was a terrible child. Dad would offer a few sips of wine just to get me sleepy enough to not fight bedtime, or the ultimate was a spider and bugs kept in jars. The dreaded bugs, torturing a child of 3 with bugs until I believed I was in boarding school at teenage. And if the bugs didn't do it, out came the dreadful spider jar, "AHHHH".
So back to the present, the loss of mom has been truly heavy on my dad to say the least the rest of the family but hardest on him. This young girl from Orlando she had autism and was lost in a swampy area found waste deep in water and mud was found after five days. I explained to my dad what happened and I asked, "wow how did she do that, no food or water?,,he replied, "she had the will to live." The other day Ron asked him how he was today, "Shitty fitty!" was his answer.
