This Explains Everything...

When I was about 4 or 5, my sister's Mary Beth and Gina dropped me on my head. Gina was 9 and Mary Beth was 10. Now I know why my brain is the way it is. My mom was working nights at Lestercoat, my two older sister's, Chery and Charlene were at color guard practice. Gina, Mary Beth and I were home with my darling Dad. It was a stormy night with down-pouring rain, howling wind, constant thunder and lightening strikes. My sisters and I were scared of thunder and lightening, mostly due to the nuns at Holy Ghost. Sister Alphonsa saw her younger sister get struck by lightening, if there was a storm during school, Sister Alphonsa wearing her full nun habit would walk the halls saying the rosary. The image was a scene right out of a horror movie. Being afraid of storms is just one of the many things I can blame on attending a Catholic school. More of that in later blogs.

The storm had us all huddled on the couch near my dad. He tells us he has to leave to pick up Cheryl and Charlene from practice. He told my sisters to watch me and stay in the house. My sisters protested because of the storm, they didn't want to stay home alone. Dad insisted, the school is close, he would be back in 10 minutes. As soon as my dad left Mary Beth (who was always a scardie cat) decided it's too scary to remain home. She convinced Gina they should go over to Aunt Kay and Uncle Dick's house where it would be safe. Gina didn't want to because Dad said "do not leave the house" and when dad spoke...you listened. Mary didn't care, she was more scared of the storm than of my father's wrath. So they bundled up and decided to carry me. They lifted me up together, each with one leg, and attempted to walk across my dad's driveway. This was not a paved driveway. Our driveway was filled with stones and potholes, (the potholes produced the best spots to make mud-pies). Still the driveway was a dangerous place. I tripped and slid and wiped out on this driveway zillions of times when I was little, I've got the scars to prove it.

So, Mary and Gina were trying to carry me over the rugged sharp rocks that was our driveway, while the rain and wind pounded on us. I am not sure who it was, but one of them stumbled on a rock and lost control of me, down I went. My head was the first to hit the driveway. They cracked my head a little, enough to draw blood. I started crying. Now they were in double trouble, one for disobeying and leaving the house and second because I got hurt in the process of disobeying. I don't remember ever getting to Aunt Kay's house, either they aborted the plan once they dropped me or the shock from my injury blocked the memory. All I remember is how mad my dad was when he got home. He was yelling at them and when my dad yelled, it would send chills up your spine. He is usually so easy-going, it was unusual for him to get mad to the point of yelling. My mother on the other hand would yell at us constantly, it never phased us. She used to threaten to hit us with wooden spoons. She never did, we had drawers filled with broken wooden spoons from her banging them on the table. We were immune to hearing her, but dad was a different story. When he yelled you knew it was serious. He told Mary and Gina to get upstairs. They huddled together in Mary's bed. They heard my dad coming up the stairs, they squeezed each other tighter, fearing a spanking was coming. Instead my dad came in and leaned over both of them. With his hands on either side of them, he started bouncing them on the bed. They bounced on every syllable of every word. "I (bounce) told (bounce) you(bounce) not(bounce) to (bounce)leave (bounce)the (bounce) house. (bounce)(bounce) You (bounce)do (bounce)what (bounce)I (bounce)tell (bounce)you (bounce)under(bounce)stand(bounce)(bounce)!!! After he left, Gina and Mary were giggling, that was the best punishment ever!!! I went downstairs and told my dad I wanted the "bounce" punishment too.