Fancy Dreams

Even as a small child, I dreamed of owning a cow. I was born in Los Angeles and lived in a nice middle income neighborhood. It was not cow property. So I did the next best thing, I pretended I had a cow.
I also pretended I owned a restaurant, Had horses, and dogs and lived on a farm. I guess when you really think about it, it wasn't really pretending as much as it was a dream of mine.
I would get up in the morning and go to school, come home and play with my dream animals. All except the dog, which was real. We started out with a Basset Hound named Maxine, and When she left us, we went on to a poodle named Tinker. I taught Tinker how to sit and shake. He was brought into our home after I had been bitten by a neighborhood dog and became deathly afraid of them. Tinker gave me back my confidence and showed me there are no bad animals, only bad owners. I will forever be grateful to Tinker. I went from wanting to be a farm girl to wanting to be a Veterinarian.
When I was 14 yrs. old, we sold our home and moved to Orange County. It was back in the day when you could still see plenty of Orange groves and strawberry fields.  I loved how open it was. I remember going to the strawberry fields and picking strawberries with my nieces, bringing them back to my sister Phyllis's house and she would make the best strawberry jam in the world.   Good Days.
Sadly, and suddenly after only living in Orange County for two months, my Mom passed away.
I was so lost. I wont go into the details of her passing, but let's just say there is a great chance that my Father had something to do with it. He was not a nice man and he drank way too much.
I went to live with my sister, Eileen, her husband, and their three boys while my Dad went to "find himself". He landed in Dana Point, which is in South Orange County near the ocean. I guess he had always wanted a boat, so he bought one.
It was a really tough time for me. Moving from my home and friends, loosing my Mom at 14, having to start a new school, and living with my sister, who at the time really had her hands full with raising her boys. She wanted to be my sister, my friend and my mom all rolled up into one and I just wanted her to be my sister.  I love her very much, but it was a hard time for all of us.
My Dad bought a house that was two doors from a brand new High School and told me I was to now live with him. Another move, another change, I retreated back to my dream farm in my mind. That is how I coped. I went from living with my sisters very busy household to being alone with my dad, who worked all day, came home and drank himself to sleep. So I was basically alone.  I cried a lot.