Making Bubbles with Gum

How did you learn to blow bubbles with gum? Me, well it was not the traditional way or at least that is what my memories are telling me.

As I said in the previous post, we made the big move from eastern Pennsylvania to the Pittsburgh area. Where we lived was not on the bus line so it was difficult for us to get around. We would have to walk from one place to another.

I have this one memory that is like a ghost. I can barely see it in my mind's eye but I know it's there.

We walked to the store to get something. Who knows what it was and I ended up with a piece of gum.

I decided I needed to blow a  Well, Father was not going to teach me the appropriate way to blow a bubble.

My little impatient self was not going to wait on someone to really teach me if my Father was not going to teach me. So what did I do, I would stretch out the piece of gum manually and then put it up to my lips. Then I would blow on it. I don't know how effective that method really was for blowing a bubble.

It's just a memory that I can laugh about now that I'm older.

Our big move

Around the age of 7, we moved once again. This time to the Pittsburgh area because we would have family living close to us. 

My mom had hoped my grandparents would be willing to help with driving us around because we didn't have a car.

That didn't happen. Where we ended up living was not on a bus line so we could only walk to places. With a 7-year-old and a 4 or 5-year-old, can you imagine how difficult getting around? Add a blind person to the mix and then you have a lot of issues with the lack of transportation.

I just wish I could remember the name of the area of Pittsburgh we lived in at that time. I've mapped it out before and all I know is it was in the southern part.

A lot of my memories truly began during this time. I've blacked out a lot of the abuse. That's how my brain works. The actual memory is not there but the flight, freeze or fear aspects are still ingrained in my subconscious.  Do I ever want to release the memories? No, let them stay there. I probably felt fear and terror during those times.

I'll be diving into those memories during the next few blog posts.

Then we'll move to our final home in the Pittsburgh area. A place that still reminds me of the horrors I endured during the few years we lived there.

The First Time I was in Foster Care

By the time I was five, we were living in Annville, PA which was in the same county as Hershey.

In 1980, I began kindergarten in the Annville-Cleona School District.  My kindergarten teacher was Ms. Lemon.

Since I was so young, I don't know much about that time in my life.

I have the briefest of flashes of memories. Whether they are real memories or just made up of figments of my imagination, I'll never know.

For some reason, I have this vision of a movie theater in my mind. However, the first real movie I can recall seeing was E.T. so I don't know if my memory is a true memory or a combination of separate memories that formed a new one.

I remember a boy named Wesley. It may have been the foster mother's son or it was another boy who was in foster care.

Then there was the chickenpox incident. From what I have been told, I had chickenpox while I was really young. However, I think I had it during the time I was in foster care.

My mom told me that even though they didn't have money during the time we were in foster care, she spent money to see John Denver in concert. She now regrets it because she should have been saving money.

Tanya and I in foster care

I don't know when we got out of foster care. Soon we were back in the hands of the man who caused me great pain.

Our lives were going to be in turmoil once again. Join me next time as I continue this journey of telling my story.