Some Stories/Events I Remember With Mom by Mia Lowry

MOM AND GAMES:

Jacks: Mom really never had a lot of time on her hands to play with us, but I do remember on a few occasions were she got to play jacks with us. She was a natural (must be where Suzie got it from). She could pick up lots of jacks and still catch the ball. It was fun to see the playful side of Mom as she sat on the floor, which was weird to see (because Mom was so prim and proper), and bounce the little red rubber ball.

We would play jacks in the front of our old Yuma house on the long red sidewalk that lead to our porch and front door. She would play with us girls until it was time for her to return to some household duty. As far as I can remember she was only able to play jacks with us 2 or 3 times. These are memories I will never forget. She taught us, Suzie, Mary and I how to play jacks. We would spend what seemed like hours playing by ourselves. No doubt all three of us were secretly hoping Mom would come out and play with us again. Well, to be honest, I can only say I was waiting for her to stop her chores and come to play with us.


POOL TIME:
There is a picture in a frame at Mom's house inside a perpetual calendar I gave her. This is my favorite picture and memory of Mom. She had purchased an above ground kiddie pool for us to swim in during hot summer days. It was hard to live inside the swamp cooler home during the high humidity days of summer. On those days, we would go outside and swim in the pool.

The day we took this picture was a really hot one and we begged Mom to come out to swim with us. Finally, she consented to go out with us, but only for a little while. We had a wonderful time swimming with our mother. Since it was a small pool, you really could not say you were swimming in the traditional sense of the word. It would be better to picture or describe what we were doing as "we sat, jumped around, splashed each other and maybe tried to swim. I remember Mary wanting to swim (she loved the water), and asking us to move back to give her room to swim. We played in it as long as we could or until our hands hurt from pruning. Mom, true to her word, left after a little while to go do some household duty, probably make dinner. But while she was with us, we splashed her and played like little girls do with their mom. It was a lot of fun.



ROAD TRIPS:

Ensenada, Baja, Mexico-
The people in this trip were: Dad, Mom, Suzie, Tonie, Chiquita (Mom's dog) and I.

We were so excited to drive to Ensenada one summer vacation. Suzie and Tonie were the most happy that we were taking Mom's little Pomeranian dog with us on this trip. For me it was a fun and not-so-fun trip. As can be expected the drive there was a long one and not without incidents. Dad was always a crazy driver and the roads to Ensenada were extremely dangerous. It was a scary drive. As you drove up the mountains, you could see cars that had fallen down the cliffs.

For Dad this trip was fun. He especially enjoyed tormenting all of his passengers by pretending to loose control of the vehicle or swerving it to the left then to the right (now you can see where his sons got their sense of humor). I remember thinking as looked at the cars on the side of the mountain how we were going to end up in the same situation. Mom kept telling Dad to stop it, but he would just laugh and do it even worse. She told him we were getting sick, but he would say, "Tell them to stick their heads out the windows to get some air. That will make them feel better."

I would not even consider sticking any part of my body out of the window while he drove like an intoxicated mad-man. I am surprised we did not get pulled over by the local authorities, but we were in Mexico and maybe the reason why Dad never got a ticket. Finally, we were overcome by the nausea and we all vomited. The only ones in the car who did not vomit where Dad and Mom. Even the dog threw up all over the car floor. Dad finally pulled over to allow us to get cleaned up and Mom had to clean the car.

When we got to Ensenada we found the only food served by vendors in port cities (back in the day) in Mexico was fish. None of us liked fish. Suzie ordered some fish dinner at Mom's suggestion, but when they put the plate in front of her she looked disgusted. They served her a fish with it's head and tail still on it, in fact, it looked as if they took it from the ocean to the stove then to her plate.

Later, not sure if we were overcome by hunger or if we truly liked it, but we were introduced to our first fish taco. We ate and ate till we could eat no more. We had lots of fun playing on the beach. Mom has a picture of us burying Suzie in the sand. In this picture, Mom was hurrying us to finish and Tonie was trying to put more sand on Suzie. Her hand was not yet covered and I did not know what to do; so, I sat on it. This is why when you see the picture Suzie's head is lifted up laughing.

The hotel we stayed in had a pool upstairs above the rooms. We had fun swimming in this pool. Dad even went swimming with us. This was a fun trip and when it was over we were ready to come home.

YUMA TO PHOENIX-
If I had not been born; then Mom and Dad would have been empty-nesters in 1989. All of their children save one, me, had moved up to Phoenix. Steve, Suzie and Tonie shared a condo in Glendale. It was a nice two-story condo located on 59th Avenue and Olive near Glendale Community College. Steve was working at the Jack 'N the Box across the street from the college. Later, Tonie was working there too. I can't remember where Suzie was working at this time.
I believe Rodrigo, Elizabeth and Abel lived in an apartment together. Ish was living with Jill in Tucson. Sergio was attending Bible College in California.

I became Mom's traveling buddy to come up and visit her other children in Phoenix. The was always fun. We would sometimes come alone or bring either Ramces or Ireri to visit their sister, Liz. When we would come we would stay at the condo in Glendale and go to Glendale Apostolic Church with Steve, Suzie and Tonie. Sometimes it was only a weekend visit, and we'd leave on Sunday afternoon because I had school the next day and Mom needed to come home to care for Dad's breakfast/lunch for work.

Mom was a great traveling partner. During the trip we'd talk, laugh and stop to eat in Gila Bend. In those days, Mom was not afraid of driving, and her nerves were not like they became after she moved to Phoenix. She could drive on the freeways too. It was always hard for her to leave her children in Phoenix and return to Yuma. She was torn between her love of her children and the comfort of her house, friends, and the familiarity of Yuma. Eventually, they decided to move to Phoenix after Dad retired and I finished out my freshman year at Yuma High School and the next day we moved. I was not happy about the move, but looking back now I am glad Mom can be a widow near most of her children. Yuma would have been too hard for her to be alone and a widow with her children living in Phoenix.