Chapter 2: Good TImes

We live in a 2 bedroom house in Daly City. Just my mom, dad, myself and my two brothers. From our living room window I can see the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. Dad ( Stephen Joseph) is a firefighter he is 5 feet 10inches and weighs 190pds. Mom( Catherine roerva) is average size and appearance. I can't remember her eye color or hair color, but mom always ha this glow with love for her children. The most memorable thing about mom is her determination. I remember one day she said she wasn't feeling well and was laying down before dinner but after dinner went straight to the garage and started painting the stairs red. I remember hearing her cough from the fumes and before the paint was dry she tacked down the mats. I asked why she did that cause the paint wasn't dry and she replied she wanted to surprise father. She was an amazing cook. Always coming up with exotic meals and music to go along with it in the back ground. One day dad was working, and mom took us three to Chinatown and told us about the culture and the history. That night she put on Chinese music on the record player, hung Chinese lanterns in the dining room and made an exotic Chinese dinner. After dinner we all got a fortune cookie.
We had so many pets then: cats, dogs, and lots of fish. There was at least two fish tanks in every room. My favorite pet was the gopher tortoise because I got to name it and I named it Thor after my favorite cartoon character. One day the cat was acting very weird and mom sat us down and taught us about birth and the wonders of life.
The holidays always started at Halloween. I remember one Halloween running outside to look at the big Harvest moon ( or big pumpkin) in the sky. We all were In awe. Mom called us in and told us to go look under our pillows and there was new matchbox race cars for each of us. The day after thanksgiving mom would run downstairs to the basement and bring up all the Christmas decorations. She would put red candles on the dining room table and snow flakes on the windows. Our Christmas tree was never under 8 feet, and each year we took turns putting the angel on top. Dad would lift us up as high as he could. After the tree was done and dinner was finished we all piled into the car an went driving around looking at all the other houses decorated with lights and mom talked about her plans for next year, but we knew our house was alway the best. When we got home we would all sit by the fireplace and listen to Christmas stories while drinking eggnog and white Christmas playing in the back ground. On Christmas Eve we would be able to open one gift each. I was always too excited to sleep, trying to listen to the reindeer on the roof. Before dawn on Christmas morning mom woke us up saying Santa came. After opening our gifts we wore our new robes outside to look at the tree from the backyard. Mom started to cry and I asked her way and she said she was glad to have a real family.
Dad sometimes had to work 24 hour days so mom would take us on day trips to golden gate park and we would visit the aquarium last because it was out favorite place to go. When spring came around that meant picnics: fried chicken, salads, sandwiches and lots of dessert. Mom would prepare the night before. Her and dad would watch us play and have to pry us away to eat.
Summer time meant camping trips to portola or memorial park for a week in the big green rent but y favorite place to go was Russian river. My brothers and I would go climbing on old stumps, or swimming at Johnson's beach( that was an all day trip) that is where mom taught us all to swim. I remember holding hands and watching the sunset. Mom was holding me tightly and I have never felt so safe and warm as I did there in that moment at Russian river.

Caitlyn Hare
3rd year Child and Youth Worker
Sheridan College