Long Time Friend
My parents hosted lunch today for some friends of ours from Wisconsin. One of the guests was my childhood baby-sitter, Lize. There are lots of ties that bind us together. Shorty worked for Lize's Uncles at their car dealership in our small town. He used to drive her Grandma and me to St. Mary's every morning. Grandma to Daily Mass, me to grade school. (Three years of Catholic grade school left me with an almost freakish need to follow the rules and incredible guilt when I don't. Thank God, (and I get the irony in that) that I didn't go all 8 years!)
Lize went camping with us every weekend in the summer. She'd head down the street with her suitcase on Friday afternoon (once, a neighbor called her Mom because she was afraid Lize was running away) and off we'd go in our current trailer to various Wisconsin lakes and campgrounds.
I think I got my fish bone phobia from her. We would do Friday fish frys and, while we would willingly eat frog legs, the fish was just unacceptable. Fish bones can choke you and we wanted none of that. My parents would get the perch, or smelt, or trout and Lize and I would dine in style on fried shrimp instead.
I can remember how very cool and sophisticated I thought she and her older siblings were. My parents were...well, kinda square so they weren't always on top of the current culture. It was at her house that I saw my first troll doll. Her sister wore a Vietnam MIA bracelet (and still may) which is my first memory of my awareness of that conflict. They also had cool posters and music and it was all so very 70s.
Lize's parents and sister lived in the Phoenix area for several years and her Uncle and Aunt are snowbirds who spend winter Holidays at my parents' so we manage to reconnect every few years when her family visits Arizona or ours goes back to Wisconsin. We've passed the connection on to the next generation with Steven and Lize's daughters.
Lize was a great influence on me. She was so very patient with the little innocent (yes, at one point in life, I was innocent) girl who was seven years her junior tagging after her. And, she's done some great stuff with her life and raising her kids. She is still a role model to me.
I've been able to pass on a little of my influence on her daughter, too, in my own imitable style. Lize started her family a lot later than I did so her daughters are still pretty young. The oldest one reminded me today of something I taught her a few years ago.
No, it wasn't something like how to be nice to others or how to knit or some tidbit about history. Nothing noble like that from this girl.
I taught her how to use an opener on beer bottles.
So, she's got that going for her.
Lize went camping with us every weekend in the summer. She'd head down the street with her suitcase on Friday afternoon (once, a neighbor called her Mom because she was afraid Lize was running away) and off we'd go in our current trailer to various Wisconsin lakes and campgrounds.
I think I got my fish bone phobia from her. We would do Friday fish frys and, while we would willingly eat frog legs, the fish was just unacceptable. Fish bones can choke you and we wanted none of that. My parents would get the perch, or smelt, or trout and Lize and I would dine in style on fried shrimp instead.
I can remember how very cool and sophisticated I thought she and her older siblings were. My parents were...well, kinda square so they weren't always on top of the current culture. It was at her house that I saw my first troll doll. Her sister wore a Vietnam MIA bracelet (and still may) which is my first memory of my awareness of that conflict. They also had cool posters and music and it was all so very 70s.
Lize's parents and sister lived in the Phoenix area for several years and her Uncle and Aunt are snowbirds who spend winter Holidays at my parents' so we manage to reconnect every few years when her family visits Arizona or ours goes back to Wisconsin. We've passed the connection on to the next generation with Steven and Lize's daughters.
Lize was a great influence on me. She was so very patient with the little innocent (yes, at one point in life, I was innocent) girl who was seven years her junior tagging after her. And, she's done some great stuff with her life and raising her kids. She is still a role model to me.
I've been able to pass on a little of my influence on her daughter, too, in my own imitable style. Lize started her family a lot later than I did so her daughters are still pretty young. The oldest one reminded me today of something I taught her a few years ago.
No, it wasn't something like how to be nice to others or how to knit or some tidbit about history. Nothing noble like that from this girl.
I taught her how to use an opener on beer bottles.
So, she's got that going for her.
