Family Memories: Mom's side mostly

Memories are funny things. We remember mostly the highlights of our childhood... the especially good/great things and the really awful/bad things, usually. Some people remember a lot and some people like me have a bad memory... I can't remember very much about the present but the past is clear as a bell sometimes. I don't have Alzheimer's, I have a 40-something brain that's fuzzing out on me as I approach the big M.

I remember some big events from my childhood: my mother having a baby that was stillborn when I was 4; my 4th birthday party where she got hit in the stomach with a pinata stick (connect the dots); my parents doing the TWIST at my 4th birthday party; my Uncle Henry being a bit tipsy at the same party; everyone had a beer or cigarette or both if they were an adult at the party.

More memories: driving across New Mexico & Arizona with my mother, maternal grandmother Anne and her husband Paul to visit my great-aunt Leonie in Flagstaff AZ. Leonie was married to Charlie Orbison, a cousin of the famous Roy Orbison. He was tall and soft spoken. She carried a chihuahua everywhere! It bit people on the ankles... I was about 3 or so. I remember my "fabulous purse" that got left behind at a restaurant. I cried so hard that they returned about 20 miles to get it for me. Spoiled little girl? Yes. I remember experiencing static electricity for the 1st time in AZ. I remember being TERRIFIED of the drop offs in the mountains of Arizona and praying that we would survive those highways. It was very scary to a 3 year old. I remember my Pop Pop saying he would throw me in the Devil's Canyon or River if I was bad... because the Devil lived down there. VERY SCARY! But it's mostly a great memory.

Fast forward to age 7 or 8. My granny Anne bought me a poodle puppy. Dad said NO to a "neurotic house dog", so she kept him - Romie after Romeo. He was a woose and turned out to be a dog that chewed his own fur. Despite being sold a toy poodle, he was a full-sized poodle with apricot / white coloring. A new years later, he and their other older dog Lady, chewed up my 1st Barbie doll (the original style). I traded in her mangled body for a discount on a NEW twist & turn modern Barbie. My grandmother had her cousin (and dress maker) make me some custom doll clothes for my Barbie and Stacy from left over fabric that matched my grandmother's dresses and pant suits... it was the 70s after all. Double knit was IN.

I remember SMELLS like Coty Powder (Granny), Roses in a garden (Pop Pop), Aquavelva after shave (Dad), Evening in Paris cologne or anything AVON (Mom). Smell memories are nice... Thanksgiving and Christmas food smells bring back memories. Tomatoes and okra bring back memories of Granny cooking three kinds of okra: fried for all of us, boiled & buttered for me, okra & tomato "gumbo" for the adults. She cooked all weekend and worked all week. Pop pop had emphasemia and was disabled from most of his normal work (home construction and repair... he was a carpenter with great skills). They were my favorite people when I was growing up. I loved to stay at their house and be the center of their universe!