Mommy and Me Time

The rest of the week was good. On Saturday I got up and made breakfast for the family. Scrambled eggs with ham and toast. My mom was impressed. I told her I wasn't eating dairy anymore and my stomach aches got better. She told me she would schedule a doctor's appointment for me to check if it could be something else. I agreed because I already knew what else was wrong. I knew what to tell the doctor.

I could tell him all the symptoms I had, and any good doctor would know which tests to run and figure out the problem. I have all the symptoms of Hypothyroidism and PCOS. I hoped they could catch them early before they turned into Cancer.

For now, I needed to nudge my mom into the correct path and make her aware of James' actions when she was not around. Maybe she will divorce him sooner. She needs to find new friends who will be more supportive than the ones who told her she was supposed to respect her husband no matter what. Come on ladies! It's already 2001! We don't need to be with a man who beats our kids.

After breakfast, my mom took me with her to the mall. We walked around and window-shopped mostly. I pointed out a few things that I liked, and my mom kept a mental bit of them for Christmas ideas. She liked a few things and I tried to remember them. When I started to make money, I would make sure she got everything she wanted. I would spoil her for all the things she gave up for us!

We went to the food court to get some smoothies. I got a non-dairy strawberry banana smoothie, and my mom got a green goddess smoothie. I told my mom about my idea to make non-dairy ice cream and told her I wanted to experiment at the ice cream store. She was supportive of my idea and told me, "Ask your stepdad, and as long as you clean up after yourself, he should be ok with it."

I informed her, "Mom, James gets mad about a lot of little things. Sometimes we are scared to ask him for things because he gets mad and hits us." My mom looked like she didn't believe me, but I told her, "Ask Amber, last time we went to help him with the ice cream store he hit her on the head with a metal ice cream scoop because she asked for an ice cream."

My mom's eyes widened in horror. She would have to ask Amber about it later. She didn't want to believe her husband could abuse her kids. She also didn't want to start a fight if her daughter was lying or exaggerating. Jasmine knew what her mom was thinking. She informed her, "He hit Caitlyn on the head with a phone and made her bleed because she spoke a bad word. He even punched Christopher in the stomach because he wouldn't wake up!"

Delilah wanted to change the subject for now because she was about to get upset. She needed to confirm this new information. She replied, "I will talk to them later. How is your smoothie?" I knew she wanted to change the subject and I didn't want to push her too hard, so I responded, "It's good, how is yours?" I made a face at her green smoothie. She laughed and told me, "It's really good. The pineapple overpowers the spinach. Try some."

She handed me her smoothie. I took my straw and drank a little bit from her smoothie. I had tasted green smoothies in my past life. They were okay, but my very sensitive taste buds could always taste the vegetables. I responded, "It's good, but mine is better. Want to try?" She tried some of mine and smiled. She replied, "It's better, but I need to get more vegetables, and this is a good way, so I don't have to taste them." We smiled and laughed.

We left the mall and my mom asked, " Do you want to practice driving?" She taught me to drive herself and in my past life, I had crashed a car into the Radio Station she worked at. I had gotten a lot better, so I smiled and nodded. She was driving her old convertible BMW, and she wanted me to learn to drive a stick shift car before I learned automatically.

She told me it was easier to learn that way and it would help if I wanted to valet when I got my driver's license. A lot of those expensive cars are stick shift and I didn't want to destroy their transmission or wreck. She drove us to an empty church parking lot for me to practice. It was Saturday, so it was mostly empty except for one or two cars. She instructed, "Try to keep it in between the lines and don't hit anything."

I had read the entire driver's handbook the first month I turned 15, so now I needed hands-on practice. I wanted to be independent and not depend on public transportation or rides from friends. Thomas was older than me and had already been driving for almost a year. He was a good driver. In my past life, I was not good at all! I would drive on top of the lines and make wide turns.

Luckily, I had improved in my past life. Unfortunately, it has been over 20 years since I last drove a stick shift car. I had a little trouble remembering how to shift. I cringed when I heard the transmission grinding. I sheepishly smiled at my mom and apologized, "Sorry!" She comforted me, "It's ok, that is why we are practicing on this old car."

I knew she loved this car, so I felt bad about hurting her. She even pointed out how this baby blue BMW was in Pretty Woman. Her favorite movie besides Top Gun! I tried to remember how to shift properly and soon I was shifting flawlessly. She encouraged, "That's great! Now let's practice parking." I knew I had trouble parking. Even in my 30's my husband would often comment on my crooked parking. Lol! If I didn't hit anything and we had room to get in and out I didn't see the problem.

I practiced parking for about 30 minutes until my mom announced, "Ok, let's go get lunch." I agreed. She suggested, "We can go get your favorite tacos and bring some for your brothers and sisters." I was excited just thinking about those tacos!

Our city was close enough to Mexico that we had good Mexican food that was affordable! I loved Carne Guisada, which is seasoned steak chunks with gravy. My mom got Carne Asada, which is a grilled steak fajita with peppers and onions. We got some tacos for everyone and headed home. It was a great day with my mom!

When we got home, we shared the tacos with everyone. The other kids were excited to get their favorite tacos. I'm surprised my mom remembered everyone's favorites! I didn't know! James likes his food extra spicy, so he would always add hot sauce or chili peppers.

He had some Thai peppers in the freezer that were so hot I accidentally got one in my eye, and it burned for hours! Eventually, he had a ruptured appendix and his doctor told him to avoid too much spicy food. For now, I just quietly watched him add a lot of hot Salsa to his Beef Fajita taco. Oh well, he wouldn't listen even if I did try to warn him.

After lunch, my mom took my sister with her to the grocery store. She wanted to question her alone about what Jasmine told her. They walked through the store and got the WIC-approved items and the ones she had coupons for. My mom would spend hours going through the coupons and cutting them out. She also had food stamps. She had to take advantage of every money-saving thing she could to make sure we were all well-fed.

They were walking down an aisle while Amber was quietly walking next to her mom. Amber was always shy on the outside. Her mom asked, "How are you doing?" Amber looked at her and quickly looked away after their eyes met. She spoke quietly, "I'm fine." Her mom looked like she was having a hard time getting this shy child to express herself.

She tried again, " Jasmine told me something that happened at the ice cream store the other day. Can you tell me your side of the story?" Amber shied away a little, but reluctantly responded, "James got mad at me for asking for ice cream." Her mom asked, "How did he get mad? Did he hit you?"

Amber nodded sadly and rubbed her head. It was still a little sore. She had a bump. Her mom noticed and patted her head. When she felt the bump she asked, "Did he hit you with a metal ice cream scoop?" Amber nodded and hugged her mom. She was scared to tell her mom because she didn't want James to get mad again if her mom got mad at him.

Delilah was thinking about what to do. She left her first husband because he was abusive and didn't want her kids to suffer. It was time to talk to a divorce attorney.