Journal 4 Crystal Cook

When I originally sat down with my mom to talk about her childhood we were both confused on where she should start. She wanted to know if I had any questions and I wasn't sure what to ask. Once she got started I couldn't shut her up.
My mom said that for the most part she had a pretty good childhood. She was an only child but that was okay too because she was pretty close to her cousins. She said that she remembers always having to wear dresses. My grandmother did not believe in little girls wearing pants....I always wondered where she got that from, boy was I tired of wearing dresses in elementary school. She said that she would never forget the time, when she was 5 years old, that my grandfather came home from work and asked my grandmother if his income tax check had come in the mail and my grandmother told him no. A few days had gone by and my grandmother went shopping and came home and laid a bunch of new clothes all over the bed. When my grandfather came home from work he asked my grandmother, again, if his income tax check had come and she said "yes" that it was in the bedroom on the bed. My grandfather went into the bedroom and looked through all of the clothes and came back into the room and said "I don't see my check" and my grandmother said "all of those clothes on the bed are your check. I needed to buy your daughter some school clothes." Needless to say he had to leave for awhile and go to cool off.
My mom said, with the exception of meeting my dad, one of the hardest impacts on her life was when my grandmother left my granddad. Because my grandmother was not close to my grandfather's family she did not get to see my grandfather much once they left. She was 8 years old when they left and my grandmother left while my grandfather was at work. She remembers telling my grandmother that if they leave he won't have anyone to be there with him but it didn't matter to my grandmother, they left anyway. My mother remembers lots of tears after that.