My mom’s birthday is June 29th. Our neighbor, Peggy, had been born on June 28th. 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.
