The little things...
I would like to share one story in particular.....
When Ted's oldest girl, Stephanie was born, he lived with me. I think he might have been about 18 or 19. When Teddy had visitation with her....he was so comical. Stephanie was hooked to an Apnea monitor, "a heart monitor". Teddy normally slept in a room in the basement, unless he had Stephie, then he slept in the living room. He had the livingroom all decked out like a nursery. When she would cry...he would panic. He would scream to the top of his lungs....he scared the life out of me!! You see, we had almost lost Stephanie when she was only two months old, for this reason, when he would scream....well you can imagine:)
I would run down to see what he was screaming about, he would say..."she's crying, what do I do?" I would have to calm him and say," check her diaper, and get her bottle ready. She is just hungry and wet" I have never seen a father so nervous!
He would make me sleep with him in the living room.
When I was carrying my second child, Teddy lived with me still.... I was bed ridden. This meant that I would need someone to take my eldest girl to school. She was in Kindergarten. Uncle Theo was glad to do it. She was a little brat!! She did not want to go to school. He had to throw her over his shoulder and carry her. She was beating him in the back all the way. He would come home, laugh about it and tell me. I asked him..."Teddy, why didn't you just swat her butt?" He told me "I love her and I could not spank her" I felt so bad for him. Guess who got into trouble when she came home.....
She is a teenager now, she does not like to cry. Especially in front of people, but uncle Teddy's death.... hit REAL hard for her then and still today.
My last memory/visit with my brother
I miss my brother terribly.
The last time that I saw him alive was on June 18th, 2000.
He came by, I remember thinking how much he looked like my late grandfather at that moment. His hair was shaved off, his ears were sticking out, and he was wearing his "new" glasses. I called him little Bert. He talked with me about stripping my wood work in my livingroom. (That never did happen)
He spoke of his wife having a boyfriend that had beaten him up....he asked questions about how he could obtain a FOID card & a gun. He stated that her boyfriend had been threatening to "kill" him and that he was afraid. He also said that he was stranded with his wife's son here in town...she left him here and was supposed to come back and never did. He asked about my older brother and said he was going to go visit with him for a while. I never heard from him again.
He would attempt to call me, but he would always miss me. He always seemed to call while I was at work, sometimes I worked days, and sometimes I would be doing the night shift. He would end up talking to my husband for hours. How I wish I could have been here to take those calls.
I miss you Theodroe!!!! Somehow, I will keep Teddy's memory alive.