Another childhood memory, hold your pants!
My memory is not what it was, so I'm just going to guess this was the second time my mother and step father moved us away from Ohio to Michigan without telling my father where we went. I'm telling you this for context, I guess. I think I was about nine years old.
So wherever we moved to in Michigan, we lived in this trailer park. This was actually a pretty cool place because there were only like 6 trailers on this huge bit of land. This married couple, Chuck and Bobbi, who owned it all lived up the hill from us in a house with a horse barn behind it.
I would mostly entertain myself my climbing trees and hiding from wild turkeys that would land nearby. There were no children around besides my 2 year old brother and the unborn brother in my very pregnant mother, so I was mostly alone. I think this was my Mother's first attempt at home schooling me. All I really remember is I had no friends.
Somehow, I ended up taking riding lessons from the landlord, Bobbi. She was a rugged looking lady, with tan, leathery skin. A petite lady with short blonde hair and these bulging, bird like eyes. I would help her feed and clean the 13 horses and 2 goats in exchange for my lessons, so I ended up spending a lot of time with her.
Bobbi was stern, but also very kind to me in her way. She would take me with her on errands and to get our nails done. Once she even took me to a horse show. I would study horse books and sing to Jewell in her living room. I remember thinking she must be very lonely to be spending so much time with a little girl like myself.
Something changed in December, so Christmas always brings me back to this lovely little memory. She had been yelling at her husband far more than normal. She always seemed to be angry at everyone, but him especially. But their house was beautifully decorated and cozy, a giant tree waiting for ornaments and gifts.
My family being weirdly religious and very poor was never huge on Christmas, so this tree was awesome to me. As were all her treasured ornaments, each with a special sentimental history. She took me to the mall with her one day to pick out an ornament of my own to put on the tree.
I chose this pink unicorn made out of glass. It was everything my little girl eyes could imagine to be perfection. So we put it on her tree where it honestly looked kind of stupid, this one pink ornament, but it brought us both some weird joy.
Then one day soon after that, my mom forbade me from going to Bobbi's anymore. And shortly after that, we moved. Before we left, I was allowed to say goodbye to Bobbi. She was distant, almost cold to me. Her eyes were hard in a way I couldn't comprehend.
I asked if I could keep the pink unicorn to remember her by.
She said "No, I bought the unicorn to be on my tree, and that's where it will stay."
Years later, I found out that Bobbi wanted to buy me from my parents. I still don't really know how to feel about this. Child me wouldn't even have minded forsaking my family to live with the horse lady. But yeah, a grown woman making this offer is a bit weird in retrospect.
I wonder if she still puts that pink unicorn on her tree, or if she threw it away a long time ago.
My memory is not what it was, so I'm just going to guess this was the second time my mother and step father moved us away from Ohio to Michigan without telling my father where we went. I'm telling you this for context, I guess. I think I was about nine years old.
So wherever we moved to in Michigan, we lived in this trailer park. This was actually a pretty cool place because there were only like 6 trailers on this huge bit of land. This married couple, Chuck and Bobbi, who owned it all lived up the hill from us in a house with a horse barn behind it.
I would mostly entertain myself my climbing trees and hiding from wild turkeys that would land nearby. There were no children around besides my 2 year old brother and the unborn brother in my very pregnant mother, so I was mostly alone. I think this was my Mother's first attempt at home schooling me. All I really remember is I had no friends.
Somehow, I ended up taking riding lessons from the landlord, Bobbi. She was a rugged looking lady, with tan, leathery skin. A petite lady with short blonde hair and these bulging, bird like eyes. I would help her feed and clean the 13 horses and 2 goats in exchange for my lessons, so I ended up spending a lot of time with her.
Bobbi was stern, but also very kind to me in her way. She would take me with her on errands and to get our nails done. Once she even took me to a horse show. I would study horse books and sing to Jewell in her living room. I remember thinking she must be very lonely to be spending so much time with a little girl like myself.
Something changed in December, so Christmas always brings me back to this lovely little memory. She had been yelling at her husband far more than normal. She always seemed to be angry at everyone, but him especially. But their house was beautifully decorated and cozy, a giant tree waiting for ornaments and gifts.
My family being weirdly religious and very poor was never huge on Christmas, so this tree was awesome to me. As were all her treasured ornaments, each with a special sentimental history. She took me to the mall with her one day to pick out an ornament of my own to put on the tree.
I chose this pink unicorn made out of glass. It was everything my little girl eyes could imagine to be perfection. So we put it on her tree where it honestly looked kind of stupid, this one pink ornament, but it brought us both some weird joy.
Then one day soon after that, my mom forbade me from going to Bobbi's anymore. And shortly after that, we moved. Before we left, I was allowed to say goodbye to Bobbi. She was distant, almost cold to me. Her eyes were hard in a way I couldn't comprehend.
I asked if I could keep the pink unicorn to remember her by.
She said "No, I bought the unicorn to be on my tree, and that's where it will stay."
Years later, I found out that Bobbi wanted to buy me from my parents. I still don't really know how to feel about this. Child me wouldn't even have minded forsaking my family to live with the horse lady. But yeah, a grown woman making this offer is a bit weird in retrospect.
I wonder if she still puts that pink unicorn on her tree, or if she threw it away a long time ago.
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