1.4 – I Was Young an' so Were You


Ahhh, that were a mild winter. I tried tuh teach mah kids tuh skate. Only got Donny tuh. He humored his ol’ ma, such a good kid!


An’ thuh kids had so much fun in thuh snow! Oh, but it warmed mah ol’ heart! They’re all such gud kids! They made thuh most o’ that winter, full o’ snow days it were. Bernard worried that their school grades’d be affecked, but I wuz sure they’d be fine. They’re all bright kids, even Shaye! “Let’em be kids!” I’d say. At least fer a while yet.


That winter…I’ll ne’er ferget it. I may’ve gotten ol’ during it, a lil’ slower maybe but I wuz still hot-blooded! An’ so wuz mah Bernard! Now that the kids were out’a thuh house most days, I had Bernard all tuh mahself! Oh…so many nights staring up at thuh stars an’ cuddlin’ on thuh couch. I remembah how he used tuh suhprize me in thuh hall while I wuz doin' laundry. He’d grab me from behind an’ twirl me aroun’! We’d dance like no one wuz watchin’, jus’ us twirlin’ roun’ an’ roun’, laundry scattered on thuh floor. Up an’ down thuh hall, roun’ the livin’ room, thru thuh kitchen an’ straight on tuh thuh bedroom!


We wuz a real close-knit family, an’ that winter jus’ made us closer. Bernard wuz retired, so he could spen’ hours wif’ thuh kids: helpin’ wif' homework, talkin’ ‘bout fishin’ an’ computers. No fights, no school troubles, no worryin’ late nights at thuh lab. That winter wuz so perfect. Like a dream I’m tryin’ tuh hol’ on tuh fer when I wake up. An’ it jus’ seemed tuh get better e’ryday! Susan even said she planned tuh retire. I jus’ couldn’t buhlieve it!


Nevuh thought she’d give up her fancy space ship. But Susan said she wuz gittin’ old. We all were. An’ she wanted tuh spend more time wit’ thuh kids. After all, she’d missed ten years o’ her only son’s life. She said she dint want tuh miss anythang else. She gave her notice an’ wuz due tuh retire aftuh one more mission.

She ne’er made it home.