My mother gave me a very good life and did a super job of raising me. She taught me from wrong to right and she made sure I got a good education. I can't imagine where I would be without all her help she has given me. My life is so much better because she was very supportive and helpful. She raised me in a ranch house with one floor in Kingston, New Jersey. The picture above was taken when she was pretty young. This is the house I grew up in as a kid. It is not there anymore. They tore it down to build a bigger house instead.
There were a lot of things to do in the backyard when I played with my brother. There was a jungle gym, sandbox and a clubhouse that we played in. The yard was pretty big with woods behind it that lead to a creek. I remember taking walks through the woods to see it. It always fascinated me when I was little and I would look at the minnows swimming in the water. On the side of our house there were tomato plants. So we had fresh vegetables with our salad. My mom was a fantastic cook. She made sure I ate very healthy and she also made sure I didn't eat too much junk food. As I grew up she got me involved in horseback lessons, gymnastics,arts and crafts classes and piano lessons. Each week I had to practice the piano and I became good at playing it.
Those are both pictures of my mother, she liked to travel to different places in the world at times. That's me as a little girl in the red shirt. She was always smiling in her pictures. My mother was always very well dressed also. She took great care of me and my brother. This is a picture of me and my brother who I used to play with. He was a very good and very smart kid.
We had a pretty good life. She took us on a trip to Florida every year to visit her parents. That was always so much fun. I loved going to Florida. We were at the zoo in that picture above. She took us to visit museums, to the zoo, and to plays. She really enjoyed life and educating us on interesting things that life had to offer. The most exciting trip she took us on was the Disney Cruise with our grandmother. I really enjoyed going there, and my daughter went. My mother worked hard to make sure I attended speech therapy after I was 3. A man used to come to our house to make sure my hearing aids worked and everything. Back in those old days, we didn't go to a hearing aid shop back in the 1970's. She was by my side through the most difficult times and helped me through them. She gave me so much support and worked hard with me to help me understand what was going on. I missed out on a lot of things because of my deafness, but my mother always helped me to understand what was happening. I am so grateful for my mother. What would I do without her?
