Even more...

My mom never worked out of the house until I was in the 6th grade. I was the only kid left at home then and she went to work at the local high school in the lunch room. She was the "lunch lady"... My dad was very stingy with the money and mom usually made most of my clothes. But after she started working we started buy my clothes ready made at the store. Working gave mom an independence she never had before. She had her own money and she would give me spending money.

Jack was the first one after Bonnie to get married. He had joined the Air Force when he was 17 and was stationed in Lincoln, Nebraska. He met a girl out there and told mama he was going to marry her. He was 17 and she was 15. Those two stayed together for 48 years and as far as I know, they were very happily married all those years. That doesn't happen much these days. Jack picked on me something terrible when I was young. He would do things just to torment me just because he could. Many times he would wrestle me to the ground and have a jar of mustard (I hated mustard) and he would hold me down and force me to eat it by the spoonful. He would do the same thing with vinegar too. He would usually do it when mama wasn't home or she was out of sight cuz I don't remember her ever getting on to him about it. But he would always get the better of me. I couldn't beat him...but I would get him back..I would do things like put my finger in his drink when he wasn't looking. Somehow, this gave me some measure of satisfaction. Perhaps the most traumatic thing Jack ever did to me was to catch a cockroach and he held me down and put it on me. I was so terrified of roaches, and I still am to this day. At first, I thought he didn't have anything in his hand and he was only teasing me but I soon found out that he was holding a live cockroach and he let it go on me while holding me down. I am still traumatized by that. He never picked on any of the other girls, only me. I think he may have been jealous of me since I took his place as the baby in the family.

Years later, shortly before Jack died I had a long talk with him and I told him how badly I felt when he tormented me years earlier. He said he was sorry and that he had no idea it was hurting me emotionally. Jack had a bad heart by the time he was in his early 50's, same as my dad. He was sick off and on for years and had to retire early because of his heart. He died when he was 65. His wife, Jan lived for about 5 more years, then she got cancer and died. She was a good wife to Jack all those years. And she took good care of him when he got sick. They had 3 daughters.