Memories of Lit'l Ish by Mia Lowry

When Jill and Ish were expecting their firstborn son they were living in Tucson. We were already living in Phoenix at the time. So, I feel lucky that I was present at his birth too. My first nephew. I was really excited. Now I can't remember if we knew he was a boy before his birth, but I remember Mom telling me she was sure it was a boy.

The waiting room was a typical cold type of hospital waiting area with that smelly hospital odor. It seemed to take a long time for her to have the baby for us, and I can only imagine how it felt for Jill. Mom was in the room with her and Ish while she was delivering. She said that Ish kept going in and out of her until he finally came out. The result was a misshaped head. I can still remember my horror when I saw that distinct cone shaped head. I thought he was going to be like that forever, but after shushing me (I was being loud. I was freaking out over his head.) she explained it was normal. I did not believe her and I now know she was right because Ish has a normal head.

Wow! Was he ever a rambunctious child! I can still remember how he got into EVERYTHING as soon as he could move. I am not exaggerating about the EVERYTHING! He got Sergio's cassette tapes once and pulled out all of the tape. I can't remember how many he destroyed before he was caught. One thing for sure was that if you could not hear him making a sound, he was up to something and/or something was about to be destroyed.

He got into my Mom's powder and made her dresser white. He would pull out dishes, pots and pans or whatever he could out of the kitchen. He would run around the house and smash his little body and head into the washing machine (it was in the kitchen at the time). Then he'd laugh, get up and run around and back into it again.

When Mom tried to get him to nap and his eyes would start to close he would get up, move or do whatever he could to keep from taking a nap. If he was in trouble and Mom was about to punish him, he would laugh and laugh until my Mom laughed too. He was such a cute baby. He was loads of fun, but he sure did keep you on your toes. He was never grumpy and he never complained even when he was sick or you woke him up from the 'once in a while' naps he took.

It is funny to see Ish now around kids and he complains at their energy when he was the king of them all. He is good with little children and you can tell he loves his little nieces and nephews. Ish loves his family and loves spending time with them. I can recall how he would call me to ask him to take him to the movies. Two movies stand out in my mind. One was a good pick and one was, well, I got a lecture from my brother Ish about taking him to see it (which I knew was coming). The first one was "There is Something About Mary" and the other was "SuperStar" with Molly Shannon. I was thankful Meghan fell asleep on the 'Mary' movie, but Ish had some questions about it that I luckily (learned from the master-My Mom) deflected giving an answer. I knew he was going to ask his dad about it and I knew I was going to hear about it. Why I did not walk out was beyond me? This was not a good aunt moment for me. I am still surprised Ish let me take his kids out to another movie after this bad choice.

The other movie has nice memories for me. I can recall Ish laughing so hard, actually, he was the only one laughing for quite some time. I really do enjoy watching movies with my nephew, especially horror flicks and comedies. As a kid, he really liked comedies. I enjoyed them even more with him because of his reaction and laughter. :)

My wedding was not a fun time for him. He told me that he thought Glenn was going to take me away. We had a picture of Glenn and I at my wedding and people could sign it. Here is what he wrote at the time....."Ish Jr. call we won't proble see you that much by Ish." (When we told him of our move to NC, he said, see I knew he would take you away from us one day. *sad face*)However, he did in fact see plenty of us. There was the kid's apartment. The summer he, Meghan and Vanessa or was it wintertime, well, I can't recall when it was exactly, but they made a movie for Vanessa's seminary class. Such a funny movie that was made at 2 am. I can still hear how they complained about Ish's complaining on their walk home from Alberstson's. The girls: Vanessa, Jovanni, Alex and Meghan had loaded their arms up with grocery bags while Ish was just carrying a gallon of milk. He, according to the girls, whined about it all the way home.

Later that day, we got out my pilates DVD and exercised. He did a few of them (3 kicks, actually) then started to complain about how hard it was to do. We continued exercising. He opened a bag of chips, watched us and critiqued us on how unlike the video we looked. At the time the girls (all 4 of them) wanted to brutalize him. During this particular visit, they decided it would be fun to whip Meghan and Alex while asleep with the cat toy and tickle them with the feather. I am pretty sure this was Ish's idea and the girls, Jovanni and Vanessa, just went along with it. How they tortured poor Meghan and Alex! At one point I had to have them sleep with me in my room. Glenn was working in Tucson for 2 weeks while they were visiting.

I can still remember how shocked I was when he began working at Sonic. I never thought he would work at a fast food joint, but when he got the job at the bank I knew that this was more up his alley. I am proud of how hard working he is in school and work. There are many more memories I have of him, but I will have to write them at a future date. Hopefully, I won't repeat myself.