Lisa's Birthday, June 10, 2008

Lisa was born June 10, 1967. She was a beautiful baby. So tiny like a doll. My mother called her "my pocket Venus" as Lisa is not quite 5'1" I loved her immediately. I had to go back to the hospital as I was bleeding out after birth. I have a "lazy uterus" that in other lands and times, I would have bled to death after birth.

I had no plans for her future except to love her. I wanted to be a better mother than my own. I remember one blessed moment when she was about 2. My sisters had gone to a bowling alley, they were always babysitting her as I was working at night at Bank of Detroit and going to school also. Lisa came out the door, threw open her arms and yelled, "Momma" it was the a wonderful moment in my life. She loved me and I loved her since before she was born and love her still. I wanted her to be happy and to enjoy life. I hope she does. We moved a lot, as I worked my way through undergraduate school. Seems like the women we lived with just didn't fit our needs as we were all struggling with our emotional states and financial straights.

She and I went camping and doing the simple daily things of life. With lots of visits to family at holidays. My mother and dad babysat her while I worked and went to school. Lisa became especially close to my dad, her surrogate father as Joe's 2nd wife wanted nothing to do with Lisa. I think she is competition for her own 2 children. Lisa wanted to have a relationship with Joe but it never transpired and he hurt her a lot. Dow adopted Lisa and she loves him as her father.

1967 was a tumultuous year. Bobby Kennedy, Rev Martin Luther King were assassinated. The Vietnam War protests were beginning to take place. The Baby Boomers were challenging the traditional American culture. The time of the Beatles, hippies, and pot. I remember being afraid that summer because of the pictures of riots taken place in Detroit. Those riots would change the city forever and it still has not recovered. (I believe the present mayor is under a recall attempt.)

Joe and I had dated since high school. He had gotten another girl pregnant in high school and often cheated on me. But I loved Joe, he was a blond Italian with green eyes-a hunk in my teen age heart. I spent all my time at his parent's home a short way from ours in Southfield Mi. There home was so much nicer than my own with my violent alcoholic mother.

During my pregnancy, Lisa's father was having an affair with his present wife and asked me for a divorce on the day of her Baptism about 6 weeks after Lisa was born. I was in shock, I knew something was going on for Joe was never home but I never realized it was an affair. (Wanting to stay in ignorance) He would stay out all night and come home to change his clothes and go to work. We lived in Orchard Lake Michigan at the time. Joe walked through all of our savings. I stayed in the cabin for a year and moved out in 1968 to live with my Aunt Wanda (mother's sister) and her husband David and cousin Mike Theakston. Joe would pay me $30 a week child support and pay for Lisa's health care insurance.

I started college-one class in the evening in the fall of 1967. It would lead me to a bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 1973 from Wayne State University. I planned to go into bank management as women were just entering such positions. The economy was in the pits, inflation was high as well as gas prices. Jimmy Carter was president. Then on to Michigan State for a Master's degree in Labor and Industrial Relations where I met Dow. I specialized in a program for the unemployed called "CETA" Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, run by States and counties to train the large numbers of unemployed. It became a boondoggle. I would be a single mother for almost 10 years. Dow and I got married in 1976 the bicentennial of the USA.

Lisa is in Idaho with Ellie this week visiting Dow's family and friends. I called her to wish her "happy birthday" but got her voice mail; I left a message. I feel a little down that I couldn't wish her Happy Birthday to her. But can only hope she had a wonderful day and knows that I do love her. Blessings to you Lisa today and everyday and to your beautiful children. May your life be filled with happiness and peace and continued growth of mind, body and soul. May the love between you and Charlie deepen and provide a strong foundation for your children. May you live to see your children's children and on to the 5th generation.

I love you, happy birthday. Momma