Jackie

I cannot remember not wanting things to be pretty or my clothes to be perfect. Even as a small child I remember wanting my clothing to be just so. I guess one might say I was a fussy little boy : never wanting to get dirty, always very neat .When my older brother would get all dirty and sweaty I would somehow remain neat and clean. Of course I never played in the dirt, hell I’m sure I never crawled around on my knees. I remember my brother talking me into climbing a fence, falling off and stabbing a piece of glass into my thigh( I have the scar to this day), and he got yelled at. Why would you let Jackie climb a fence?  What’s wrong with you? You have to be careful with him, he’s not like you! WELL I guess NOT, My older brother grew up to be a plumbing and electrical contractor and I grew up to be a decorator.  He was the protector and I was the protected. I can remember wearing blue and white seersucker shorts, my mom called them” crinkle crepe” and white sandals:  my brother wore brown. Dull brown.

 His Christmas presents were always wrapped in green and of course mine were wrapped in red. Santa knew too. When I was a child my birthday was always a big deal. Being on Valentines Day it was a kind of holiday. People remembered my birthday. I just took it for granted that everyone had such a perfect day with LOTS of cards and gifts and that all important bakery cake (never homemade) in the shape of a heart with red roses all over it” Happy Birthday Jackie” it would say…And it was. I thought my Aunts were very pretty, Why my aunt Sandy should be in movies, and I thought my Mother was the most Beautiful in the whole world. It must be very sad not to think those things. I can’t imagine not having those memories. I thought our family Christmas holidays were beautiful too. With those pretty bubble lights, big paper bells and Glass Wax stencils on the windows and lots of presents to open . We would have  big dinners with wonderful food, the dining room table was all set and it was so pretty, There was fake holly scotch taped to the “ chandelier” it was absolutely festive. The food was so good, we always had cole slaw (in December?) and Turkey and lots of dessert:  we were dessert people. Of course in Kalamazoo it always snowed like crazy and was bitter cold. So it was perfect…