Stories of my Mommy #5

For my boys. This post is by no means an endorsement of my own behavior. Mind that, will you?

I think it was in 4th grade when I had this classmate, Paolo, who was one of the class tom cats. By that I mean, he was a bully and kept everyone in line. I didn't like him much. He had tripped me once as I walked up the aisle in the middle of the classroom to work on a math problem on the board.

It was embarrassing enough to have to work on math in front of the class but to have tripped on the way there was just not fun. The teacher took care of it.

I told Mommy what happened and she was really sympathetic and then she told me something like that had happened to her.

She had this classmate in 3rd or 4th grade who would tease her mercilessly. In the morning, he'd stand in the doorway of the classroom, bar it with his body and keep her from getting inside.

She told me she finally got so tired of it that one day, she kicked him where it hurt the most. He never did it to her again.

Now, mind you, I think that she was telling me this so that, in a round about way she was explaining that it was ok to defend myself. I think so, anyway.

I was a little surprised when, after I was being teased by my brother (it went both ways, trust me), I used the same tactic Mommy did and she wasn't too happy about it at all. I think she made me darn his shirts with holes as punishment. I just remember being really mad while I was sewing, mostly mad that she was mad at me.

Mommy Family Trivia

Mommy was one of six children. If Mama had no miscarriages, there would have been nine.

Her oldest brother was a school principal (I think). He fell and injured part of his brain which put him out of work for a while but he ultimately died some months later. He was my favorite uncle and I remember that he used to pull coins out of my ear and cut all my boy cousins' hair.

The middle brother was a police officer. He was shot in the neck while he and his partner where chasing down a thief.

The youngest brother is still alive and has retired from work at the post office.

Her oldest sister was the head dietitian for the hospital where she lives but is now retired.

Her youngest sister, the one she's closest to, is still working but lives in Australia. I call her Nanay which is Tagalog for Mom. She's the closest thing to a grandma you have on my side of the family.