When I was very young
(like in first and second grade) my cousins lived not far from Highland High
School and Sugarhouse Park. Aunt Fern
and mom would often take us to Sugarhouse Park as it was so near by. Problem was that the trees were not mature
(as they were not much larger than us kids) and thus the park did not provide
much (if any) in the way of shade.
Sugar House seemed to be an older area
overall, but it seemed the park was fairly new.
I vaguely remember a playground.
My cousins and I must have spent time rolling down the hill – although I
haven’t run across any photos of us at that particular park.
I wonder if the main objective for our
moms was to take us to the park was to wear us down. I wonder if it backfired as I am guessing
that we must have worn our mothers out.
We must have run them ragged as they tried to keep an eye on us or just keep up. I wish I had more details about just what we
did.
Neither my cousins nor my brother made
fun of my feet, but I was teased by other kids from school because of my
“pigeon toes” . Mom had taken me to the
doctor and had been told that my knee bones turned in one way and either my
pelvic bone or ankle bone turned another.
He could correct one or the other, but the only way he could correct
both was to break my bones and reset them.
The procedure would have been a rather expensive one and I would have to
learn to walk all over again. Needless
to say, I still have the same bone structure and problems.
To help me to be less pigeon toed, mom
took me to stride rite for corrective shoes.
I HATED having only three pairs to choose from. All saddle shoes – which reminded me of
bowling shoes. I wasn’t happy with
having to wear what I considered very dorky looking shoes. On top of the dorky saddle shoes, I had to
have inserts called “cookies” which would lift my foot at one side in order to
straighten the problem.
When my sister Kayla started walking,
mom expressed her concern with her pigeon toes and explained my condition. Kayla’s doctor prescribed a brace that
attached to the shoes. She would have to
sleep with it during the night. I always
felt bad for her, but realized it would be better to deal with it as a baby
(who’s not even going to remember) rather
than have to deal with the hurtful peer pressure at school.
When Jenna started walking, I noticed
that her right foot turned. I mentioned
it to her doctor but her doctor dismissed it believing it was something she ‘d
outgrow. I then related my concerns that
I had experienced myself and the solution we had used on Kayla. I don’t know why I didn’t bother searching
for a second opinion – probably my financial situation – or lack of it
rather.
I guess after a while I had stopped
noticing. I had forgotten that she had
once walked with her right foot turned in until just the other day. She was wearing flip flops and though her
right flip flop appeared to be moving straight ahead, her right foot hung over
the left side. I believe she has tripped
over her own foot as I probably had in my youth.
Jenna was told by her dentist that she
had perfect teeth. I don’t think I ever
received the same compliment when I was her age. I had an overbite among other problems.
I look through old photos, I have never seen a
perfect mouth. I don’t know how old I
was when I had my accident on the monkey bars or exactly how it happened. Must have let go or something. My mouth came down hard over one of the
bars. I chipped my two front teeth. My right tooth was chipped more noticeably
than my left. I was embarrassed by it
and would smile with my mouth closed so as not to reveal my ugliness.
My grandma Helen offered to pay for
braces for my mouth. Almost three years
of humiliating pain. Every time I would
finally develop a toleration to having each tooth surrounded by medal , I would
have to return to the orthodontist to have the braces tightened.
In addition to the braces I was
supposed to wear a dorky headgear – at least at night while I slept. Oh, yes.
That was fun.
I don’t know how much time had passed
between my braces and capped teeth to porcelin repair. My mouth does look better than it once did. Thank you mom, dad and grandma!
When I had school picture taken, mom
made me promise I would smile with my lips open – that way if my child ever
needed braces I would be able to show him or her the picture to show that
braces were not so bad. Oh, right. Each picture I had taken may send my child
running and screaming. Then again the
braces today don’t seem to be so obvious as what was the only style back
then. Perhaps if Jenna did need braces
she would be able to recognize that she would never look as horrible at mom
did.
Before April of this year, I had
registered Jenna for the “Girls on the Run” 5K and training class. It was a really worthwhile investment. The run took place yesterday morning. I had asked each of her brothers if one of
them could be her running buddy. Tony
ran with her and saw to it that she would not give up.
Before the race started, Jenna had
twisted her thigh somehow. She wanted to
quit but Tony wouldn’t let her. I took a lot of pictures of the two of them and
smiled at the thought of my childhood and how almost 50 years later I stood
with Jenna in the same park and the trees from my youth are mature now.
The sun beat down for most of the time
we were there. God put clouds in front
of the sun while the runners ran, but it was back with full light and heat just
as soon as the race was over. It was a
good experience for all of us I think. My body doesn’t think that today
however.
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