Author: Kay Simpson

It’s your birthday! You’re now 45 years old. Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday that I answered the door and Susan placed a 7 week old baby in my arms. Your room and your bed had been waiting for months in anticipation of that day. Little did I know that the little green outfit and the green bedding would follow you all through your teen years. (Do you still like green today?)

Susan brought two trainees with her because she knew that I wouldn’t mind. Tony and Andy were watching Sesame Street. The ‘case workers three’ had never seen it. They sat down to watch while I fixed you a bottle. When I came back into the living room, The boys were holding you and the caseworkers were on the floor watching the show.

When your dad came in from work, he watched the three of you while I went to the store to get diapers, formula, and baby food. When I got home, I took over again and called my parents to let them know that they had a new granddaughter. My mother answered. She wasn’t enthused. My father was ‘out on the road’ and she was busy all weekend, but she might be able to come down in a week or two. I thought, ‘Oh, really? Here we go again.’

She asked how old you were and how big you were and what did you look like. Then she paused and said, “How old did you say she was?” My reply was 7 weeks. “When is her birthday?” November 29. “REALLY?” I said yes, that was true. She was so excited that she wanted to come visit right then, but by then you were ready for bed, so she would come the next day. She was ecstatic because you shared the same birthday, so it was ‘meant to be’.

What’s her name? Angela Maria Elizabeth. Why so many? Here’s the story on that. I had a dream while we were waiting for ‘our next child’. We knew that the baby would be a girl and that was all. But my dream said that I should name her Maria. Someone argued that it had to be Marie, not Maria, because that was only right. But I loved the song Maria from West Side Story and Maria it would be.

Of course, my spouse had a say and he wanted Angie because he loved the show Police Woman and Angie Dickinson was the star. Needless to say, I thought that he loved Angie Dickinson and so watched the show. So… Angela Maria it was.

You were our last child. We had our sons and now I had my baby girl. But I wanted to honor the caseworker that had placed all three of you in our home. Her name is Susan Elizabeth Kinz. Angela Maria Susan didn’t sound right. And I liked biblical names. So you now became Angela Maria Elizabeth and were no longer Carla Louann Brummett.

Of course, we were required to take you to a doctor for a checkup right away. You were healthy in every way except for a couple of things. You had a milk allergy. The only thing you could drink was Nutramigen, which cost over $20 a container way back in 1976. I drove from Columbus to Ft. Harrison to pick up a case each month. They ordered it especially for you and it came through their pharmacy.

The other problem was your club feet. They almost immediately put you in two casts from your hips to your toes. Keeping them clean while changing you was interesting to say the least! Almost everyone thought that would hold you back. But I watched your determination. It wasn’t long before you were using the weight of the cast to throw one leg over the other to turn over.

After you had gone through two sets of casts, they put you in special shoes that had a bar between them to hold your feet correctly. It still didn’t stop you. You just flipped right over. You were easier to change because I could use the bar like a handle and lift you easily.

Changing you easily was important because when you were 7 weeks old, I was 7 weeks pregnant and told I needed to stay in bed. LOL! I had a new baby, a 2 year old still in diapers, and a 4 year old! But we managed. You laid in the curve of my arm on the couch while the boys played in the floor and watched tv most of the day.

Fast forward. I’m now in the kitchen of our ‘new house’ in Hope. I was standing in the kitchen, holding Manda in one arm, while cooking. I looked to the right, down the hallway towards the ‘girl bedroom’ and saw you in the hall, headed my way. It hit me! You were 2 and had two fuzzy puffs in your hair and looked a lot like Minnie Mouse. But you were the little girl in my dream of so long ago. The one that was supposed to be Marie, not Maria, because that was only right. You see, the girl that gave birth to you was Zina Marie. It was all just meant to be.

It wasn’t long after that time that we went to Target. We being my parents, your siblings, you, and me. We adults each took one child and one took two. We divided up and did our shopping and met back at the car. I put Manda in the car, gramps put Jason in the car and my mother put Tony in. There was an empty car seat and no extra kids. Where did you go? We panicked thinking that you were loose in the parking lot and would get hit. My mother stayed with the car. My father looked in the parking lot, and I went into the store. I didn’t see you. I asked a woman at the checkout if she’d seen a little girl about 3, described you and what you were wearing. She laughed and said, “Yes, she’s in the big aisle at the back running up and down it.”

I got back to that back aisle and what did I see? You running like a wild woman all the way down to the end. Then, when you turned around and started running back, I could see that you were laughing hysterically. I caught you and asked why you left us. You laughed and said, “I did it! I sneaked away and you couldn’t find me!” Little did I know that this incident was just the beginning.

I imagine that you remember the years from then until now so I’ll skip ahead to your kids. All that I’ll say is that they are all beautiful. They are intelligent beyond words. And they are ALL as stubborn as you ever were! You left your imprint on them all.

Then I want to thank you. You literally gave me four children. Children that enriched my life. I might have spent the years after my ‘kids’ were grown visiting family or playing bingo. But that would have been boring. Let me tell you that my life has been anything but boring. Well, this year of 2020 does leave a lot to be desired! Jaison, Michael, M’Kinzi, and Koda have been the loves of my life. I didn’t get to be ‘gramma’ but I got to be so much more. Thank you.

You made a lot of changes in your life while I was doing that. Lots of changes. Now you’ve found your true religion. You help others in understanding it. You’re even learning Arabic. You’ve taken a course to be a paralegal, gotten married, you help others to find solutions to their problems, and I don’t know what else.

Now we’re in touch again after so many years with no contact. It was necessary for healing for us all. I think that we’re all better because of it. It’s been good to talk to you again and to work together for some good causes. I look forward to a time when we can all get together in person again and I can come visit.

I’m very proud of the woman that you’ve become. Yes, you took the long road, but you made it.

Love, Mama