One of the things resultant from having four siblings is that we'd all been in agreement that Dad would be the first and Mom would hold everyone together. She was a force, and the architect behind so many things.

One summer the children in our neighborhood decided to have a bake sale with proceeds going to a charity. We were selling popcorn and my Mom was donating some bits of jewelry that we could sell. She donated the most beautiful screw on earrings. Purple star bursting stones.

Cherry P****** told my mother that the earrings I'd bought I'd decided to trade her for popcorn which was just absurd. I recall becoming pretty melted down as a result of the incident because my mother insisted I give her my earrings.

Dad was in Wyoming hunting and brought me home dangling turquoise earrings. Meanwhile Mom's back home with five little kids.