Baby Sister

Well, Reader, you have already met my Uncle John and my mother, Sharon.  While countless others looked to my Mema as a mother figure, she actually birthed only one more child:  my Aunt Patti.  My mother was four when Patti was born.   Mom and Patti have always been close, but when Patti was born--Mom wanted to run away from home. 

Aparently, when Mema was pregnant with Patti, she was sick all of the time.  She was in labor for twenty-one days, and then Patti was born with bronchitis, and they even thought she might have had diptheria.  I guess when Baby Sister finally got to come home from the hospital, she cried alot.  My mother, four years old, decided to gather up all of the pop bottles she could find.  She packed a bag, loaded the bottles up in her little red wagon, and started pulling it down the street.  Papa was sitting out on the porch, and seeing her, asked her where she was going.  She said she was going to the store.  She was going to sell her bottles and leave town, because the baby cried all the time and made her mommy sick.  Papa just shook his head and said "Can I come too?"  Momma told him he could, so they went to the store, sold the bottles, and spent the money on candy.  Papa told her that babies couldn't eat candy, so Momma decided to come home.  And, that was that. 

Mom and Patti have always been close.  I love the stories I've always heard about Momma locking Patti out of the house so that she couldn't track mud on the floor, and Mom tricking Patti into singing her to sleep at night.  They may pick at each other, but God help the person that tries to pick on one with the other around. 

I think Papa set the tone of their family future that day when he ran away with Momma.  He really listened to her, and gave credance to her feelings.  I think that is so important for children.  As irrational as we may think their feelings and fears are, they are absolutely real to them.  And, trust me, I have known children with more insight than most adults.  Children need to be taught to trust their feelings and given the confidence and opportunity to express themselves.  If they aren't given that chance, they learn that their feelings aren't important.  They stuff things down inside, and it makes them insecure. 

Some people think that children should be seen and not heard.  Hmm...  Then how are they ever supposed to work out their thoughts and learn to communicate them?  No, children should be taught the appropriate time and place to voice themselves.