So, two things happened this week that are in my brain on this rainy Friday night. One, I have discovered Daisy Jones & the Six! Wow! I haven’t found a TV show in a very long time that I have absolutely fallen in love with…until now! It is smartly written; it is so well casted; and the acting is incredible. It truly brings you to the era of the day – an era I wasn’t even alive to live through, but yet, feel oddly nostalgic for! And, two, I ran into a lady I hadn’t seen since I was in single digits – a lady I adored as a young child but never had occasion to see for decades!! Having her come into my world, when I’m already living vicariously through Daisy Jones & the Six, had me hanging out in the 80s; the earliest memories for me!
That lady, let’s call her Bubby, since I always knew her by a nickname when I was that age; not that one, but since I don’t know her very well, I’ll leave her anonymous. She used to come visit at my Godparents house across the street from my family home. She always wore her hair in a pony tail. She was always laughing. She always made time to make a shy little girl feel seen and special. She lit up any room she was in. And when Bubby landed, the energy changed in the house. It was never bad before she arrived but it was always electric by the time she left.
When I ran into her by chance, all these years later, I wasn’t 100% sure it was her. I mean, she looks just like the family so I knew she was related to my Godparents but I wasn’t sure if it was Bubby. So I said to her, “You know, you look awfully familiar”. She said, “Oh do I? There’s something vaguely familiar about you, too” and asked me my name. I gave her my maiden name and I watched her face place me. Watched her do the math and the age progression in her mind. I watched her eyes sparkle as she pieced it all together and then that famous Bubby laugh poured out!
I told her how much I loved her visits when I was a kid and how I looked forward to them so much; I also told her how much I appreciated how kind she was to such a young child when she would have been in her late teens/early twenties. It’s a rare thing to be consistently kind and cool to a child of 5 or 6…but she was!
We didn’t have a lot of time together, but we talked about life at my Godparents house! How they raised 9 children and were the “do drop inn” for countless others. How their front porch was grand central station for our neighbourhood. That there were always people there; always telling stories; always with music. We spoke of Max with the hat and the stache that was the coolest cat; a staple at my Godparents house. We talked about all the kids who grew up there and the fun things that used to happen. One kid called my parents house about 10 o’clock one night and said, “Josie, quick, look out the window, brother X (changed to an X to protect his identity lol) is streaking!!”.
All in all, I likely spent about 20 minutes with Bubby. But it put me back into the heart of my childhood; remembering all the people who have shaped me. As a child with only one sibling, having Godparents with NINE kids was huge!! They were all older than me but I remember when many of them still lived at home.
Brian & I were part of Wee Lads and Lassies when were were itty bitty. It was a little running/track and field group centred around the Antigonish Highland Games. Paul and Sean were teens who helped organize and kept us interested. I think those little trophies are still somewhere in Mom & Dad’s house! When I lost my first front tooth, I somehow managed to EAT it! Only explanation as it was never found lol. Debbie was our music teacher and she taught my entire first grade class a song called “I Swallowed My Tooth for Lunch”. At Halloween one year Joe A got dressed up as a werewolf and went door-to-door, without a treat bag (if ya know, ya know). I was so terrified that I locked myself in the bathroom with my then babysitter and still have a dreadful fright of anything werewolfy and flat out refuse to watch tv shows or movies with any in them! When my friends and family gathered to sing Christmas carols for the residents of the RK, Terry’s booming vocals joined right along with us. And the first dog I ever loved was a black one named Major who liked to sleep in the middle of the road…he spent his waking hours going door to door in the neighbouhood, such that I sometimes wondered if he actually lived at Camerons or Macisaacs?! When my beloved Godmother passed away very suddenly and far too young, when I was only six years old, those siblings got me to draw a picture and they made sure it got put in the coffin with their Mama. I can still remember the heartbreak of that first loss.
It was a different era then. Our street was a dead end street that abutted up against farmers fields. it has since become a thoroughfare for “the interval” as it’s known. Those nine kids grew up and moved away. Their Dad, who loved lobster and stinky cheese among many other things, showed up for me when I needed him to. He stood by me at Confirmation. He always had a Christmas present for me. And there wasn’t a Christmas Eve that I didn’t get at least a quick little visit in with him; even after he’d left our neighbourhood. The end of this month, it will be 15 years since he’s passed. And I can still hear his bass-baritone when I close my eyes and listen.
When Sean and his wife Emmy moved back to the neighbourhood to raise their boys, it was such a happy homecoming for all of us neighbours. For me, in particular, as this “God Brother” took over the role, in my mind, from his Dad, my Godfather. Whether it’s helping to shovel me out; coming in a flash when my hot water tank went kaput; or inviting me for dinners & beers and teaching me to love turnip (!), Sean has always, for me, felt like a kind of big brother. He watches out for my parents and is the king of special deliveries to them! I don’t always agree with his politics but I always agree with the fact that he is a good, solid, kind, role model who fights for what is right. He’s not really old enough to be my Godfather but I’m so lucky he’s morphed into that role.
The Camerons will forever be a part of me; my other family. And that era of life in the interval lives on in my memory…with such sweet feelings of love and belonging. Oh how wonderful it was to run into Bubby this week. I’m going to spend some time here on Memory Lane…if you need me, I’ll be helping Olga bake cookies in the recesses of my mind. Thanks Bubby.
Dandelion Wishes 