Once upon a time .... not so very long ago, two people fell in love. They were blessed with a baby boy and then .... a baby girl.
(Above) Berneil with new baby daughter. (Below) Aunt Dorthy with her niece ....
Dana (4 years old) and Melayne (8 months old) Dec. 1955
Family Photo in 1969. My Grandparents with their 8 (living) Children. They had a baby who died at 2 days old, he was a twin of my Uncle Lance, his name was Lynn. My Grandmother also had a few miscarriages. My Mom was the only girl (besides my Grandmother) in a sea of boys. Back is Dana, Melayne, Ricki, Randy, then Clark (no glasses), Lance (with glasses) Tracy (youngest) on my Grandma's lap and Peter beside my Grandpa.
My Mom was the 2nd Mother of the family. She was the 2nd oldest and helped with all the little kids.
I only remember 2 pictures of my Mom pregnant with me. This one (you can't even tell) ... Mom says this was taken at a party and people were asking if she was pregnant. My Grandmother is beside her. The other photo I remember of my Mom pregnant with me was under my Grandma's Crab Apple Tree (at the house on Taft) ...
My Mom got pregnant in 1975..... in that time where women having babies out of wedlock was very frowned upon. However, it was towards the end of the Baby Scoop Era and just a few short years after the still controversial ruling of Roe vs. Wade. It was a still a time when parents would send off their unwed daughters who "got in trouble" away for 9 months - to homes for Mothers, where the babies would be taken and put up for adoption - no matter what the mother truly wanted. This breaks my heart for my Mom in ways and she doesn't really talk about it other than my Grandparents stood strongly by her side.
My Mom got pregnant, basically, when my Dad visited her on a leave home from the Navy. They had been dating. However, my Dad's leave ended, and shortly after he met my step-mom and they got married almost exactly a year after I was born.
Some of my favorite pictures of my Mom and I ...
My Mom was 21 when she had me. We lived with my Grandparents until I was about 11. My crib was in my Grandparent's room so that my mom could sleep - she was going to school and working. Sometimes she was working two or three jobs. I remember - Mom and I had our own little TV corner in the house, and we'd sit on our little couch outside the dining room and watch TV. Stuff like Quincy M.D. ... Murder She Wrote.... The Commish.... MASH.... Miami Vice.... Knight Rider...
My Mom is my best friend.
I remember, one summer, she had come up to me and said "I want to thank you for being the good kid you are." A friend had been caught up in the wrong crowds, drugs, drinking, getting in trouble, etc.... but the worst I ever did was got caught shop lifting once at about 12, never did it again. She said something to the effect of "I know you've basically raised yourself, but I'm proud to have you as my daughter."
You don't forget it when your Mom says something like that to you.
And the fact that she wanted me to be a boy. She was going to name me Nathan Allen. But instead, I came out with the indoor plumbing kinds of way .... and her and my Grandmother faught in the hospital room over how to spell my name. I was named after an actress from Family Affair. Mary Anissa Jones.
My Mom said it was spelled A-N-I-S-S-A
My Grandmother said it was spelled A-N-N-I-S-S-A ....
My Mom was right, my Grandmother won the argument. I became the mis-spelled Annissa Rae.
I was Baptized Annissa Mae though.
Anyway .... today is my Mom's birthday. She's 60. I was the only baby she had. (She actually told my Grandmother right after my birth that I was it, she better look to her sons for more grandkids.) ... She has four beautiful grandbabies, including the one she convinced us to name Nathan. He's not Nathan Allen, but Nathan Patrick. And isn't it funny that when I finally give her Nathan... he looks just like her?
Yep and she plays favorites too .... guess who her favorite is.... LOL
