Share your stories #8 Pets etc

Do you remember having a favorite nursery rhyme or bedtime story? What kinds of books did you like to read?

My favorite books to have read to me were the Berenstein Bears books. Especially the one called Bear Scouts. Once I could read to myself I loved any books I could get my hands on. My first grade teacher encouraged me to read by giving me 3 jelly beans for each book I read. I was reading a ton of books so she changed it to 21 jelly beans for a stack of books, I thought that was awesome. At some point I got into the Baby sitters Club books and read the whole series, up to about #70. I even joined a book club for them so I was sent 3 books and something that had the logo on it each month.

Who pulled your teeth when they were loose? How was it done? How much did the tooth fairy leave for a lost tooth?

Usually my Dad would pull out my teeth, my Mom always tried, but for some reason I preferred Dad to do it. He would just grab onto it with his fingers and pull. One time my Mom said that if I pulled out certain teeth before we went to the dentist she would give me $5 because otherwise the dentist would have to pull them out. I did my best to get them out myself because I didn’t want him to do any more than I had to.
The tooth fairy usually left me a quarter. I think once I got a dollar.

What was the climate of the area where you grew up?

We always had the normal 4 seasons. Winter was cold, Summer was hot and Spring and Fall were just right.

What was your favorite toy?

The only one I remember really caring about was a doll. She had a plastic head, hands and feet and a fabric body. Mom made her a white dress out of the leftover fabric from my baptism dress.

How many pets did you have? Which one was your favorite pet?

We had a fish, but it died and we buried it outside, Della had a hamster for awhile. Other than that all we had were dogs. The one I have the best memories of was Princess. She was a little black dog with curly hair. She was full of love for everyone. Officially she was Della’s, which came in handy when she needed to be fed, let out or cleaned up after.
Before Christmas one year she got sick and we took her to the vet. We went to California for Christmas and planned on picking her up when we got home. The vet said she had cancer and she died before we got home. We buried her in the backyard under the lilac bush.
After Princess we had more dogs, Shebud was one, I don’t remember the other one’s name. One was so rambunctious we sold her to someone who had a lot of land and could let her run around a lot.

Did you have any childhood diseases or health problems? Any stitches or broken bones?

I remember being sick, but I don’t remember what it was. Dad gave me a blessing and I thought that meant I was sick enough to die, so I was relieved when he said I would recover from the illness.
When I was about 12 I started having really bad back pain. After MANY doctors we finally found out that my body was growing up faster than it was ready to.
No broken bones, but I had stitches one time. I had cut my finger on the sharp edge of a tomato sauce can. I got 3 stitches in my middle finger on my right hand.

Have you ever been hospitalized, or have you had surgery? What for?

The only time I was hospitalized was for childbirth. I never had surgery either.