My daughter has to give a weekly talk for speech class.

This week she was assigned to choose someone who loves her unconditionally
and share how she feels about that person.

She must include what her subject means to her
and share some of that's persons history
I am honored to say, she chose me!

I have never been so touched
wow

about
A week ago she asked me to jot down a few facts about my life
on a piece of paper
no big deal



what?
How well does my daughter actually know me?
a few facts?


I'm 56 years old

a few facts?


I was born May 21,1951, the oldest of three children,
My two brothers and I were all 1 1/2 years apart.
I was an extremely friendly and very social child.
I said hello to everyone and struck up conversations with anyone in my path.
I have memories of being in the crib,
everyone teases me about this,
but I do
I remember the feeling of drinking from a very warm milk bottle.
I bet you are laughing, but I kid you not!

There was a crib set up in my moms bedroom in a tiny 4th floor walk up apartment in South Shore.
We lived in a giant horseshoe shaped building on the corner
and on the other end of the street very rich families resided
I am able visualize everything in that apartment
in my minds eye.
I can see the front door
and where the massive TV was placed,
the large dining room table with the Irish lace tablecloth
the tiny kitchen that had a back door which led down 4 flights of stairs to the alley

When I was only 3
my mom would send me to the grocery store with a note and money pinned to my clothes

She'd watched me hike down the wooden stairs and cross the alley like a big girl
and then
knock on the back door of the store
The owner would let me in and wave to my mom
They called me Rosemary Clooney
a popular singer in those days
George Clooneys aunt


I remember the first song my mom taught me
I heard Patty Page sing it often on the big red radio on top of the fridge
How much is that doggy in the window
the one with the waggley tail
how much is that doggy in the window
I do hope that doggy's for sale


I had a girlfriend named Joanne who lived on the other corner in a big mansion
Her dad had a giant roll of suckers that he used to pull out of his very organized closet
I had never seen so many suckers at once
and he would let us choose whatever color our hearts desired


I ran home from there one day in order to catch my favorite program
telling everyone on the way
to hurry,
it was almost on

THE MICKEY MOUSE SHOW

Meesca Musca,
mousekateers,
mouse cartoon time now appears
or
something along that line
I loved the adventures of Spin and Marty
and Annette, Cubby and Karen and the Gang

I remember our almost 24 hour rides to Pine Crest ,Wisconsin, every summer.
we always had car trouble
My dad managed a resort for three months
and taught English and History at Mt Carmel High School
while he coached the basketball team.

we
NEVER MISSED A GAME
I loved it.

2 months out of the summer it was an athletic camp,
famous athletes would make appearances.
One month it was a family resort.
My dad was like the cruise ship director

I had the use of my own pony named Flicka.
We had lots of picnics on the beautiful beach
and my mom had a zillion built in baby sitters
She endured a hard winter cooped up in that apartment
but talk about a cushy summer.
my mother was the hostess with the most-est
whenever I smell freshly cut wood, I think of that place
It had a log cabin feel.
My dad drove the camp bus.
I remember so many little details about Pine Crest
the deck, the kids, the restaurant, the bon fires, the dances.
The year my youngest brother was born
I remember going to Little Company of Mary hospital with our dad to bring our baby home

and they wouldn't let us in
so my mom held my brother up to the window

My dad had to leave to get things ready for camp
so my mom dragged all of us by herself
all the way to the resort with a new born
on a train

when Bobby was only a few days old
and
Billy was 1 1/2 years old and I was 3

I would love to go back to Pine Crest some day

I remember how excited we all were when my parents bought our first house.
My dad had to quit his teaching coaching job that he loved
and began to sell steel for Chicago Steel Service
he met the owner of the company while he and his family vacationed in Pine Crest
He had to give up his fun job so he could make more money to support us
because unfortunetly,
he made close to nothing teaching school
so sad, what a shame
another story
The new house was about $19,000 dollars
which was a lot of money to my parents
and
it was in the suburbs!
A doctor with a million kids owned it before us.
It was a typical Georgian, very small,

God only knows where that doctor put all those kids.

I went back there a few times over the years and knocked on the door
the owners always let me in
there have been a few since my parents moved in about 1974 or1975
the first time I visited I couldn't believe how tiny it was
it seemed much bigger in my imagination
the staircase was half the size I remembered
I used to sit up at the top and listen to my parents talk at night
especially if they had company
It only had 2 bedrooms on the second floor

When we first moved in my mom and dad slept in the big bedroom upstairs
and all three of us shared the little bedroom.

we had this den sort of room next to the kitchen that the doc must have added

Moving to Evergreen Park was quite an accomplishment for my Dad
No one in my mom or dads families had ever lived in a house
let alone the burbs
They always lived in rented apartments in the city.
In my dads case, his dad owned the building
but it was an apartment nevertheless

My dad was the first one in the family with a college degree.
He won a basketball scholarship
from St Ignatius to Loyola University
another story


On my fifth birthday I broke my leg trying out the roller skates my Gram Murphy bought me.
It was a very serious accident, at one point they thought I might be crippled.

My mom told me to wait for her,

but I didn't
yet, I always remembered that lesson,

bad things happen if you don't listen to your mom.

I remember when I fell smack dab in front of my house
I cried so hard,
but I was always rather
over dramatic
so to test out the seriousness of my condition,
they told me the good humor man was out there
and did I want one.
They figured I would tear out of the house

but I just continued to cry.
then
They knew it was time to go to the emergency room.
The entire block was involved in the activities that afternoon while my dad was on the golf course.
They would not let my parents stay overnight and I really went nuts.
I was in a bed crib thing in big ward of kids.
My memory of that day is still crystal clear.
Someone gave me a doll to try to calm me down
and it sort of worked,
I just laid there and watched and listened to the giant clock on the wall all night long.
I spent the entire summer on my front porch the year I broke my leg.
I was a large load for my poor mom.
My cast went from my hip to my big toe and it was not a walker,
it was very heavy.
I could not get it wet,
I took complicated sponge baths.

Where ever my mom put me,
I had to stay.
I was constantly at her mercy and
was always looking for someone to talk to me
good thing they were builidng the house next door
I kept those construction workers occupied
and the broken leg sure itched a lot,
I used to stick hangers in there
I figured out a way to break free
I skooted on one leg wearing out all my fancy underpants
soon all the kids on the block were traveling the same way having races up and down the block
I did not even recognize my right leg when the cast came off.
It was all skinny and hairy.
eek!
I had to learn how to walk all over again
a few days later I
attended my first day of kindergarten

I think Kate should just ask me a few questions
this is not going to work
I love her unconditionally
God only knows
I wish she would ask me to tell her how much I love her instead
I have a feeling that might be just as long as this

but I just can not jot down a few lines
of the story of my life
look how much I wrote and I have not even
gone to kindergarten yet