Debbie was a hit and everybody loved her. Actually she and Miriam became close. When Miriam had trouble finding someone to watch Carol, her mentally handicapped 5-year old daughter, Carol, Mother volunteered since school was out for her, too.
Carol was a sweet, funny girl who constantly made us laugh with her antics. The first time she met me was at the dinner table the first day she stayed with us until Miriam got off work.
I came in and took my place at the table while Carol was chattering away about something. Suddenly she stopped and pointed at me and said, “What’s THAT???” The family howled, especially my brother, David. 😁
Near Christmas, Miriam invited me to go shopping with her and her family to Atlanta’s downtown Rich’s Department Store (I suspect she did Mother a favor to kinda figure out what I wanted for Christmas or it may have been that Carol insisted I go). It was very exciting for me since I loved Rich’s Toyland at Christmas. (Who DIDN’T??? 🎁🛍️🎅🎶🌲)
At Rich’s, we came to a down escalator. It was a short one, so you could see both sides at once, and in the middle was a double bar so that people from each side could hold on a rail.
While we were going down, there were some teenaged boys going up. I had my hand on “my” bar and one of the boys reached over and put his hand on mine and ran it up my arm while he was passing by. He said something, but I didn’t understand what he said. It shocked me, but nobody said anything so I didn’t think anybody else had seen that. (Thank goodness! How embarrassing!)
When we got home that night, Miriam dropped her family off first telling them she was taking me home and would be back shortly. Once we were in the driveway at my house, Miriam turned and said, “Wait a minute. I want to talk to you.”
I sat quietly wondering if I was in trouble for something. I was very nervous! 😁 But what Miriam did was give me the best sitting-in-the-front-seat-of-the-car lessons on self-defense.
She said she had seen what the boy had done and the look on my face. She just wanted to make sure that, if I were ever in a situation where I was being accosted, I would have at least a few defensive moves to try and get away safely.
I don’t know if being a nurse gave her this knowledge, but I had never heard these tips before.
She showed me her hand with her fingers closed at the middle knuckle. She said my palm was then my weapon to hit upward to smash an attacker’s nose from the bottom up with full intent to break it.
“Hit as hard as you can! That will disable him and allow you to run like hell!” (Miriam was known for cursing but she was so lovable, nobody “noticed.”)
She went on to give me a few more pointers but then, she ended with the grand finale tip of all tips. She said, “The number one thing to do is kick him as hard as you can right in the balls! That’ll put him on the ground crying like a baby and you get the !$&@# away from there!”
A little while later, even though I knew very little about (whispering) balls (end whispering), when I went into the house, I felt older. Stronger. More like an adult . Not only had she told me things that truly were great to know, she cared enough to share her advice for me to stay safe.
Miriam passed away in 2005 at age 63. Carol passed away in 2003 at age 41. They were both precious people and had an impact on my life and will never be forgotten. 🪽😇🪽😇🪽
NOTES:
- Turns out it really is a small world! Dr. Robinson was the uncle of my future brother-in-law, Randall, in Carrollton, who actually married my sister-in-law at my home.
- One of Carol’s favorite things to say whenever anyone was teasing her (like me, David or Daddy) was, “Stop! You’re making me nervous!!!!”
- Carol was married to Jerry Gerald) Kuykendall when she passed. I was in school with Jerry at New Georgia when I was in elementary school.
