More beginnings

At that special school I went to I was often very helpful, and would help the kids out in wheel chairs when I could. But generally they kept us half way normal kids away from the special needs kids.
I also remember that I wore a special ID bracelet for being allergic to PCN. The house we lived in on what was called El Capitan (I always pronouned it "L Cap it ten") Was off of Brookhurst. I remember when my sister was born and I was dismayed that she had stuck her tongue at me. It was my first time being a brother. And I was eager to have a playmate. And it had struck me that having an equal balance was important so I thought the bady should be a girl. As I was told my dad was a horrible babysitter, and one day as I remember. I was almost kidnapped while riding on my bike, a car pulled up. For some reason I think it must of been someone that knew my parents. I didn't know them but for some reason they asked me if I wanted to go to the snow. And it was freaky cause I had always wanted to go play in the snow. To slide down snowy hills on a sled, make snow men, throw snow balls and roll around in all that white fun stuff. I was always bugging my parents to take me to Santa's Village. And here it was right on the plate everything I had always wanted. They stopped their car right next to the side walk, pushed the door open. And I didn't know them so I eased onto my bike seat and pedled as fast as my legs could peddle. Our neighbors, Robins Dad was a CIA guy or something. He had worked for President Jimmy Carter if I heard right. And he was interviewing me for what I had seen. Nothing ever came of this. But I'll always remember that day as the day I could of been kidnapped. I remember when we went to see bugs bunny on ice. I also remember having a retainer, and I hated that thing and my ID bracelet. The retainer always felt icky in my mouth. And it made me feel like I wanted to vomit because I didn't feel like it belonged in my mouth. And I was always afraid I was going to bit into it, which I probably did if I remember right.
My mom doesn't remember most of any of this stuff, and I always took offense. My fondest memories were when we had the film projector up at home to rewatch family video's. Some film my dad purchased that may of had laurel and hardy on it, and another comedian I can't remember. Big heavy guy, not Abbot and Costello, not the Marx brothers, or Charlie Chapman, but somewhere between those era's of time. We also enjoyed watching our christmas times together, the shot where I pinched Robin on her but. A clip where I was jumping up and down ( I must of had some sugar in me) which I think the occasion was Easter and I had candy with me. What I was doing apparently was waving my arms like I was a side ways wirly bird, and rotating them fast around before my jump was finished or something. I'm not exactly sure, but I was very impressed with myself. And the funnest part of these video's where the motorcycle riding. One of my dad's friends (Ray who was related to my half brothers) was driving around with a mask on, and apparently it was to make fun of my Grandpa driving around on his motorcycle.
I think it caught the scene where I think it was ray drove over and landed in a whole bunch of cacti. I think he was kind of accident prone. But the most painful memories was on this film as well. And it was an example of how my mother often treated me. I had gotten a box with winnie the pooh on it for Christmas. And for being a young kid, that's what it was. But with a voice that suggested I was retarded, my mother pointed out it was for my records. And it occurs to me, that my mother often spoke to me like I was stupid, and that I was her greatest embarassment all the time. I have psoriasis, and that includes the scalp as well. Getting a haircut would often be embarassing, especially to my mom. Now my skin is alot better than it was, but one time while getting a hair cut. The stylist was acting like I had bugs in my hair and she was not having a good time. My mom in turn was embarassed and when I got home I would have to spend about 10 minutes brushing my hair in an attempt to get rid of the offending scalp upon my head.
It occured to me at that time that the stylist was very unprofessional and my mom did not stand up for me. My sister was generally a good friend to me as a todler. We had a lot of fun as she was such a cute and funny little baby. Sometimes when I'd lay on the floor, my sister would jump up and down on my belly, and she'd squeel "adoooo" and I'd bust up laughing as the air was forced out of my lungs. She would say the silliest things, like "Snoopy is noopie" and instead of singing batman, she'd sing "badman" over and over. During Thanksgiving we would often look at each other funny as I liked Olives, and she loved pickles. Those were our Thanksgiving favorite eats. My mom was very protective of my sister, and I thought she was going to kill me when I was horsing around with her in our backyard pool. We had these blow up lightbulb inflatable things. And I took one of them and smacked my young sister in the head with one. I just wanted to play, and she was the only one there to play with at the time. Now when my brother came along, he was a strange looking kid. Little did I know, my sister had dropped him on his head, as she was jealous of the new baby. I didn't know about this till a few years ago from today. Or three years. I heard it from my stepfather of all people, so I asked my dad who said it wasn't true. My sister though claimed it was true. She said it with no shame either. Me, I would of been devastated through my entire life if I had done that. It made me think to myself how lucky I am that I was first born. That could of been me!
My brother as a lil kid, todler, baby, had a big head from the top of his head, then narrowed to his chin. He kind of looked like an upside down hershey kiss! And he was always in the walker, and smacking around "zo0oom" smack! All over the kitchen like he was the ball, and the kitchen was the pinball machine. I always thought to myself that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. And I wondered if that was what made him such a special case today. Well it sure as hell wasn't helping any I can tell you that. He'd smack around in there all day like he was trying to kill himself, and it's a wonder we didn't have to replace the whole kitchen.
I remember we had visisted our grandma on my dad's side during that time. I often thought he was joking when he said all they ate was grits every meal of the day. I couldn't eat the stuff at the time, and they had to acquire a box of sugar smacks for me otherwise I wasn't going to eat. It snowed one of those visits and my dad and grandpa Pud, and perhaps my uncle went hunting for deer. They didn't find anything but they sure as hell didn't see the one that was staring at us outside which we could see from the window. My grandmother became very religious at some point in her life, and the night light in the bathroom kind of scared me. There were aspects about religion that scared me that I never understood. Even though our neighbor would occasionaly take me to church with them and Robin. Or on our way to a store, we'd sing those christian songs. "If the devil doesn't like it he can sit on a tack", or "He's got the whole world, in his hands". And I remember Robins mom being so very pretty. To me she looked like Debbie Harry, without the punk look. She was terribly afraid of frogs, and when she'd see one. She'd scream for me to get it and remove it. And I'd scoop up the frog "my favorite things in the world" and I'd talk to it telling it, it was ok, and I wasn't going to let that crazy ladie hurt you".
When we moved from there to Trabuco Cyn, I thought to myself my friends should of appreciated me more. But I had missed them and I had a lot of fun living there. I never understood why we moved. But my mom always wanted to live in the country and have horses. We visited my friends or our old neighbor a couple of times. But everyone remembered me as the kid that kissed Lisa, and it was like I had cooties. And then there was the sliding glass door we had. I just remembered this, I must of hit that sucker with a ball and I broke it. Boy was my dad mad! The yard we had was awesome because we had a barrel that had strawberries flowing out of it's holes in the side. There was a huge toad back there that would occasionaly emerge from what ever it was hiding beneath. And Pal our black retriever was back there, and my mother silky terrier Tasha was back there. Those two dogs loved each other. Often my mom would visit my Aunt Elaine, and I'd have a ball playing with my cousin Vicky. My other cousin who was a baby at the time, was Julie. Julie grew up to be a real brat as what I heard. Vicky was always sweet, but ended up in a not so good marriage but with a lot of kids. One time we visited when I was still a kid, and I gues Vicky got in trouble. It kind of spoiled our visit because we had to leave. I dont' remember what was said, but I repeated to Vicky the next time what my mom said, and Vicky told her mom. And I think that but a crux in their friendship for a bit. Aunt Elaine eventually divorced Vicky's dad. He was a really tall guy who I understand was in Nam. He grew out his beard and hair really long, and he was really scary looking to me. My Uncle Dick died, whom I knew little about, other than he was Uncle Henry's son and he drove a big yellow truck with alot of tools on it. I often enjoyed being baby sat by Aunt Meriam, or Uncle Tom's Wife who'm I can't tell you her name. Uncle Tom didn't seem all that bright, and he enjoyed antagonizing me. Uncle Henry seemed ok to me. He may of been a little imposing. I understood he refused to interview with the historical society, and Uncle Henry's interview was really lame. My grandfather's interview with them was very good. We were all impressed with how well he held himself. Though he was a real mess dying of the cancer. He fought it with everything he had. We all assumed he was so afraid to die, and it showed. My Grandpa was the most important person in the world to me. He loved me so much and always cherished my drawings of my versions of antique cars. We adored his good-bye kisses with him tickling our cheeks with his whiskers. He always called me lil Stevie, which is why today I have a son I call Stevie, to remember him. I couldn't name him John because that's my brother's name. John L. Warne was his full name I think. My favorite things were when he'd take me on a ride on a tractor or for a ride in his military jeep.