Dash #23 Peggy Bird

          My mom’s birthday is June 29^th.  Our neighbor, Peggy, had been born on June 28^th.  Mom had been raised in San Francisco, California while Peggy had been raised in American Fork, Utah.  Peggy already had one son when she and my mom were both pregnant with Danny and me.  I was born at the end May and Danny was born in early June.  We were raised together by both moms. 

Until Jimmy was born in 1970, there were six of us:  Daryl, me, Danny, Patrick, John and Matt (in that order).  We would spend time together doing different things. They’d invite us to go on outings and do things with them.  I remember camping with the Bird family when Jimmy was just a baby.  I remember going to the amusement park with them.  I also remember Patrick and I going to Birds’ house after school after mom had gone to work for a few weeks.  I also remember staying the night when my brother, Corey was born.

I remember going to the American Fork Steel Days parade with the Birds almost every year even after Corey and Becky came along. There is one picture of Corey sitting between Jimmy and Becky, and though the other two are smiling, Corey looks bored out of his mind.  I don’t know if Kayla was around then or not.  Kayla is mom’s youngest and Becky is Peggy’s youngest and the only girl.

During the 60’s, Peggy was mother earth as her home always smelled of molasses cookies and gingerbread.  It appeared that she was always baking.  I loved the smell of her house.  She and mom would take turns driving four of us to the Deseret gym so that we could learn how to swim.  One day the car had a problem while we were on the freeway.  I was just a kid and hadn’t paid much attention to what was wrong or the cause.  My only memory of that time was seeing two “hippies” or long-haired youth assist Peggy with the car. It was in a day when the word “hippy” signaled a bad vibe for some people.  I knew their assisting was not a bad vibe.

If ever Peggy went shopping in whatever shops surrounded our area, she was never satisfied.  According to my mom, Peggy believed that Chipman’s department store in American Fork had everything and anything she could possibly need and would make the trip to American Fork just to acquire whatever it was.  Mom said she told me that she had gone with Peggy one time so that she could discover what it was that drew Peggy to Chipman’s.  Mom said she had expected a glorified K-Mart or something and was actually unimpressed with the size of the store or not appreciating the selection.

I don’t know how old Peggy was when she decided that she would go to work, but I suspect it wasn’t until after Becky had graduated high school.  Peggy left behind her mother earth and became one of five curators at the church museum.  She was the only female. 

She is quite well read and knows her church history.  Very knowledgeable.  A feminist.  I have learned a lot through her over the years.  I appreciate her more now than when I was a child.  I am grateful for the friendships that we have established.