Mamma’s Memories

Thanks to Rachel Pappas of 1 Up On Cancer for standing in the gap today with her delightful memories of her daughter growing up. 

The memories stories seem to be well appreciated here on Marie’s site, so I have some to share about my daughter, now 22 years old. She’s my only  child, not by choice, and I  had a hard time letting go of her babyhood; still love savoring the memories. Being the mom, the stories might be funnier or cuter to me than most, but hope you enjoy ….

Three years old. We were in a theater, watching Aladdin.  The projector messed up and cut off abruptly. So there we all sat in this packed, dark theater waiting for the show to resume. The woman next to us, enjoying the matinee by herself, leaned into my daughter with the pixie cut and Bambi eyes and said, “So what’s Your name?” Marina wasn’t used to being approached by strangers. She shrieked loud (and I do mean loud) NOBODY!” I told her “Marina, that’s not nice.” But I stifled a laugh and never apologized to that woman trying to make nice because I was half humored and half embarrassed. I still feel bad I never even as much as looked the woman in the eye, but I guess she’s long since forgotten.

Not much later. We were in a restaurant that the word “yuppy” would have best described back then. You know, where women drink  chardonnay from Brandi-snifter-looking glasses and men wear corduroy jackets with patches on the elbows. There was a huge screen and a National Geographic documentary on. The camera zoomed in close to a gorilla from behind and Marina shouted “Look Mom! Look at that gorilla’s BUTT!”

Ok, the last one I’ll put you through. She was six and lost a tooth. Literally, lost it—in class. The kids and teacher tried to help her find it, but it never showed up. She came home genuinely concerned the tooth fairy wouldn’t believe her and that she’d get gypped—that she’d wake up and there’d be no dollar under her pillow. So I coached her as she wrote a letter to the tooth fairy, which I have to this day, along with her hospital bracelet which fits on my finger (she was a 3 and a half pound preemie). Anyway, the note says:

Dear Tooth Fairy,
I lost my front tooth today. I lost it in school. I tried to find it for you. Really I did. I tell the truth. Can I still have a dollar please?”
Love, Marina