In My Daughters Eyes (My Mother’s Memoirs as seen through my eyes)

In the Beginning there was Mom

(pre 1951)

To fully grasp the outstanding circumstances that led to the birth of my mother you would have to first go back in time and learn of a beautiful miracle of divine intervention. In St. Louis Missouri there lived a Methodist minister and his lovely wife who served a big, beautiful church with a huge pipe organ. They longed for children but were sadly unable to fulfill their own wish, so they prayed on it, and prayed on it but no pregnancy resulted. However, God was listening. One day, outside on the front steps of the church a baby was found, there was a note attached simply stating that the mother was a single woman and therefore could not keep sweet Finley but wanted to give him the best chance at a blessed life, so she brought him to the church. The Brown’s later named him Leonard and that my friends was the beginning of my Mother’s Father’s life. Raised in the Methodist church my granddaddy became a strong, responsible man who had strong values and a great work ethic. He met my grandmother, Deloris when he was a little older however when he went into the Army, they were separated and she married another man (don’t worry, their story does not end there). My granddaddy served under General Patton in World War II and after receiving a purple heart for injury in the line of duty during war time he came home. In the meantime, Grandmother found herself pregnant and in a marriage that was not conducive to a healthy relationship, so she was divorced from that man and when granddaddy returned, they were reunited and married, my granddaddy raised and adopted that baby as his own and that baby was my Aunt Sharon. I know, where does my mom come in? I’m getting to that… Later along came my Uncle Richard and a few years after, my mom was born.

Misbehaving with her siblings 

“Puckernini”

Siblings are our first best friends, at least they are supposed to be, though it is a rite of passage to annoy he heck out of your brothers and sisters and that is what my Mom and her two brothers did incessantly, with a dash of love thrown in of course. The mode of annoyance that was most often utilized was ‘puckernini.” What is “puckernini” of course you are wondering that? Well it starts with pointing your finger at your siblings nose and saying “puckernini” really slowly while trying to get as close to their nose as possible without touching it. So technically you are not touching each other, but oh my, can this be annoying! And no, you cannot run to Mom and dad and complain because they did not touch you so, no foul, right. Many years later when I was young, my Mom told me about this “game” and it became one of our silly games, only difference is we would laugh so hard that we would inevitably touch finger to nose or nose to finger, foul!

“Peep”

Speaking of foul... My Mom’s dad, Grandaddy Brown must have been a patient man. My Moms sister Sharon was grown, married and off having her own family but the other three were still in their Miami Beach home. My Mom and her brothers were a handful, but my favorite story of their shenanigans was “peep.” A popular phrase for parents to say any time to their children when you just cannot take any more is ”I don’t want to hear another peep out of you,” so as it goes my grandaddy would say this often but much to his chagrin they three siblings would walk around the house like chickens, pecking their noses in the air, quietly spouting, “peep, peep, peep.” It is a miracle that my grandaddy did not blow his top, or did he?

Left? Right!

To further prove my grandaddy’s patience with my young Mom, because I would honestly kick her out of the car for this one, someone would be walking to their destination! When giving directions on their way to a place my grandaddy was not familiar with he would ask which way, if it was a right turn, no problem, but on the 50/50 chance that it was a left turn, watch out. Upon his asking and the answer was left, he would ask, “left?” and her answer was always, ‘right” so he would obviously turn right, oh my! But did he learn, nope. This happened just about every time, “left?” “Right,” my Mom would reply. Then he began to blow his top and shout, “is it left or right?” my Mom would erupt into laughter. Naughty young lady.

Falsies are made of Kleenex not rubber

My uncle Richard is a scamp and his favorite target was my Mom, and especially loved to embarrass her in front of his friends. There is two years difference between my Mom and my Uncle Richard, him being the older one. His favorite antic when his friends were over was to fake sneeze as my Mom would walk by them or passed his bedroom door. After he would do this he would apologize to his friends and say he was allergic to the rubber in her falsies. Ooo that would irk my Mom to no end and to this day he still teases her about it. Last time I was visiting, he was there as well and periodically would sneeze as she walked by and she would yell at him!