Bleeding Perseverance - Episode 7

Autobiography Fridays

CHAPTER 3

Summer Of ‘84

Soon after school let out in ‟84 we moved across town and into an actual home. It was on Myrtle Street, but since it was hard for us kids to pronounce we called it Mama Turtle Street.

Jesse had supplied Mom with enough money to buy a used car. It was nice to finally not have to walk everywhere we needed to go. And it really helped with the move as well. Of course that first day in our new place was on a payday, with our taste buds and stomachs enjoying a delicious dozen of donuts. Mom even had cable installed, which meant MTV!

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By this time I already had Michael Jackson‟s tape Thriller and a walkman to play it on. It was one of the last gifts I had received from Sandra and Dow before we lost touch with them.

I couldn‟t get enough of Michael. Always begging for his trading cards, copies of magazines he was in, etc. His music really changed my life. To this day I credit him with being the one who instilled in me a deep appreciation for music.

I played Michael‟s tape so much that within a few months it was dead! I was so devastated, and gave it a proper burial under the tree in our new yard. I never knew he had come out with albums previous to Thriller. I would have fell in love with Off the Wall too, if I had known it had existed. I really wish there had been someone in my life to support my passions.

We were only at Mama Turtle Street for a month. Jazmin had always had to have frequent doctor visits. Since leaving the hospital after that first year, a problem developed to where she couldn’t properly digest the food she ate. It got so bad that it became life-threatening and we had to go down to L.A. for her to have surgery. We wouldn’t have lasted long in that house anyway due to the bills. And so we packed up the car with what we could and headed south.

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Jazmin was admitted into the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital and we were put up at the Ronald McDonald house nearby.

It was an exciting time because it was something new for us. We got to eat well since the house was providing, and they even had a game room, which included some arcade video games. The trick to starting Asteroids was to hold down all the buttons at once.

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Our days were spent at the hospital, Mom by Jazmin’s side while Chino and I ran around getting to know the place. Sometimes we had to bring Daniel along, who had just turned six a couple of months earlier.

For lunch we were supplied with hospital meal tickets from our hospital case worker. She was real nice and risked her job by giving our family the tickets every day. When we left that summer we gave her the only thing we could as a token of our appreciation. A handheld electric massager that Mom had been given. No, I don’t think it was used-LOL!

Chino and I always chose the same thing for lunch because it was something we hardly ever got at home. For him it was hamhock soup. For me, a hamburger and fries. One time I said I’d try the hamhock, but as we neared the front of the line I just couldn’t bring myself to give up my favorite lunch. Guess I missed it a lot after never being able to go to Wendy’s anymore.

Another wonderful thing about living at the Ronald McDonald House was the fact that Mom didn’t have as much freedom to bestow her vengeance upon us. Our physical punishments had to be toned down or else they (the staff and other guests) would find out. We still had to face some bad situations, but at least we had somewhat of a relief. For a while, that is.

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One of the memorable events of that summer was an event put on by the Ronald McDonald House for the families staying there. Most of the families had kids with cancer. Many of which had no hair, thus I learned what Chemotherapy was.

A few celebrities headlined this event. I think a couple were soap opera stars, but the two I remember were Robert Pine, the Captain from the TV series Chips, and Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong fame. It was a real treat because we grew up watching Chips (Sandra and Dow had even bought me a Chips themed Big Wheel once) and Cheech and Chong movies.

When I was about to approach Cheech for an autograph I wanted to ask him how much a limousine costs since I had started to see them around town and had become captivated by celebrity life. But when I got to him I was too shy and just got his autograph.

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The second highlight of that summer came since we didn’t have to pay rent. Mom asked us where we wanted to go, Disneyland or Universal Studios? My vote was for Universal because I loved movies and the idea of filmmaking. (I actually thought that you could watch a movie being shot if you went there. It was only later that I learned such a thing was a rarity. And if you were lucky enough to come upon a shoot, it would only be brief because you had to stick with the tour. (I don’t blame Spielberg for ditching it and sneaking on the lot. I probably would have done the same thing!) Daniel, Chino and Mom all voted for Disneyland, so it would be several years later before I got to go ‘Live the Movies’.

So me, Daniel, Chino and Mom were off to Disneyland for a day. Mom and Chino had went once before while Daniel and I were with Sandra and Dow. This time around, Mom was four to five months pregnant with little Jesse.

NOTE: Since my youngest brother is named after his father, from this point on I’ll refer to his father as Big Jesse and my youngest brother simply as Jesse.

We spent the first few hours at Disneyland together, then Chino and I went off on our own for a while before meeting back up with Daniel and Mom.

Naturally, Captain EO was a very big thing for me. Michael Jackson was my first true idol, and my soul was touched every time I saw him on TV. I was always on the lookout for him while we were there in L.A. (Hey, it could have happened!) If I would have known he had recently bought a place in Encino I probably would have ran away to find it!