I feel somewhat guilty and disloyal for approving of Brenda's vegetarianism & animal rights stances, but i must. (Coz like, me too!)
Your childhood sounds fantastic and aforable despite all the badness; once you get old enough to write your memoir combining all these memories & what comes next count me as a presale.
Was also raised by my grandparents and called them my mom and dad, & my grandfather also died of a heart attack while dealing with lung cancer (black lung in his case, forner coal miner). I was either 10 or 11. My parents got divorced when I was less than a year old, my mom got custody, then ran away from home and completely disappeared for a few years because she felt smothered. (To be fair, while I loved Mom - my grandmother - dearly, and have had an at best distant and mostly downright hostile relationship with my bio mom (her choice on that hostility, not mine, i tried until i gave up trying & was like fuck you too bitca), I completely understand why she did this and sympathize immensely, & i was almost certainly better off left behind).
LOL Victorville! I live about 2 hrs or so from there and my work home base is as bordering town. Or city. You might be shocked at how populated that area is now if you haven't seen it in a few decades.
Like your dad, we prefer living in the middle of nowhere, except we're much closer to it; dirt roads, nearest neighbor a quarter of a mile away, next nearest half a mile, over a mile in the other 2 directions. We'd prefer to be much more isolated than we are, no suburbs for us. Kinda the opposite of your kid self in that i love the idea of being able to accidentally wander off the edge of the world or into another one.
I wasn't raised by my grandparents, just my mom! I was just talking about how we (mom, sister, and I) lived with extended family after the move from MO to MN. That's crazy about Victorville! Small world...
My bad for misunderstanding! I had the idea it was all 3 of them even tho yeah obviously your mom the main one.
& lol not quite as crazy as if actually worked there but yeah. That whole Hesperia/Victorville/Apple Valley area has kinda merged into one decent sized city for practical purposes, well over 100k people there now I think i saw at some point & just checked, 134,810 for Victorville alone.
We drove through here on way to Vegas on the 90s and don't remember it being anywhere near that populated.
Thankyou for writing this. I read it in my hometown in NZ - outside a fish and chip shop as I ate a big yummy NZ fish and chip lunch.
Next to this shop was the store my mother would send me to with 5$ to buy her Cigarettes when I was 7 or so.... she was divorced ... my dad a weird memory... so I can totally relate!
Its so great to read these essays and feel like we are connecting with people our age... who have similar experiences. Keepin it real Lirpa for all us ACODs out there ;)
Beautifully written. Love the wistful nostalgia, perfectly captured everything.
Thank you 😊
I feel somewhat guilty and disloyal for approving of Brenda's vegetarianism & animal rights stances, but i must. (Coz like, me too!)
Your childhood sounds fantastic and aforable despite all the badness; once you get old enough to write your memoir combining all these memories & what comes next count me as a presale.
Was also raised by my grandparents and called them my mom and dad, & my grandfather also died of a heart attack while dealing with lung cancer (black lung in his case, forner coal miner). I was either 10 or 11. My parents got divorced when I was less than a year old, my mom got custody, then ran away from home and completely disappeared for a few years because she felt smothered. (To be fair, while I loved Mom - my grandmother - dearly, and have had an at best distant and mostly downright hostile relationship with my bio mom (her choice on that hostility, not mine, i tried until i gave up trying & was like fuck you too bitca), I completely understand why she did this and sympathize immensely, & i was almost certainly better off left behind).
LOL Victorville! I live about 2 hrs or so from there and my work home base is as bordering town. Or city. You might be shocked at how populated that area is now if you haven't seen it in a few decades.
Like your dad, we prefer living in the middle of nowhere, except we're much closer to it; dirt roads, nearest neighbor a quarter of a mile away, next nearest half a mile, over a mile in the other 2 directions. We'd prefer to be much more isolated than we are, no suburbs for us. Kinda the opposite of your kid self in that i love the idea of being able to accidentally wander off the edge of the world or into another one.
I wasn't raised by my grandparents, just my mom! I was just talking about how we (mom, sister, and I) lived with extended family after the move from MO to MN. That's crazy about Victorville! Small world...
My bad for misunderstanding! I had the idea it was all 3 of them even tho yeah obviously your mom the main one.
& lol not quite as crazy as if actually worked there but yeah. That whole Hesperia/Victorville/Apple Valley area has kinda merged into one decent sized city for practical purposes, well over 100k people there now I think i saw at some point & just checked, 134,810 for Victorville alone.
We drove through here on way to Vegas on the 90s and don't remember it being anywhere near that populated.
Beautiful.
Thank you so much!
Thankyou for writing this. I read it in my hometown in NZ - outside a fish and chip shop as I ate a big yummy NZ fish and chip lunch.
Next to this shop was the store my mother would send me to with 5$ to buy her Cigarettes when I was 7 or so.... she was divorced ... my dad a weird memory... so I can totally relate!
Its so great to read these essays and feel like we are connecting with people our age... who have similar experiences. Keepin it real Lirpa for all us ACODs out there ;)
I'm so glad/sorry you can relate 😄 it's kind of amazing that store still exists right next to where you are right now.
…David Bowie?
I watched Labyrinth before I was ready 😅