Tiffany Olivera-

 Memories of my childhood

 Oct. 2008

            As I was washing the dishes after a delicious home cooked meal, I was wondering how I got to this point in my life. My responsibilities seemed to be second nature, and I have never really given much thought of how I learned them. As a young adult in college, I feel that I handle my tasks at hand pretty well.

When I was a child, I remember feeling overwhelmed. I grew up with a mother who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of twenty eight. Having a mother who couldn’t take care of herself was challenging, but it had a positive impact on the kind of person it made me become and learn how to deal with problems that I faced.  As a child, my responsibilities were anew.

Every weekend my grandparents came to visit us to  ease the burden of my mother’s illness. They would take us  to the movies, shopping for food, and just enjoy life. It was our tradition on Sunday mornings before church to enjoy a homemade  breakfast. I could still smell the pancakes while they were cooking on the hot, buttery griddle. It was a taste of the easy life. The easy life I did not have day to day.

 During the week was a different story. My mother was constantly shaking and was unable to do the simplest of tasks. I not only had to feed my mother, but I also had to help her change her clothes, help her walk, and give her medicine and among other things of that nature.

 I would pretend that we were in the “Wizard of Oz” linked arm in arm walking down the yellow brick road. It was the only way she was able to walk.

As I was putting the dishes away, I realized how full I felt. I had made lasagna that night and it rested heavily in my stomach. I know that if it wasn’t for my mother’s inability to cook most of the time, I wouldn’t have learned how to cook at a very young age. . My mother was in no condition to drive so I had to walk two miles to a grocery store, get the bare necessities and walk another two miles back home with my hands filled with bags of food. Sometimes I’d even have to go when it was raining or snowing. Our stomachs weren’t going to wait for the weather to turn for the better.

My mother did not work because of her disability so money was a constant trouble. We lived on child support, which came rarely, and social security checks. As soon as I turned the legal age to work, I went out and looked for a job.I passed it onto my mother to help with the bills. It felt rewarding to help my mother any which way I could.

Since sleeping was the only time my mother would not shake and actually feel better, she spent a lot of time in her bed. I never blamed my mother because I could never even imagine having no control over your own body movements.

 My task at hand now is college. If I want a better future for myself I have to take full accountability for all the actions I make.  As a child, I never pushed my responsibilities aside and I shouldn’t have had such a huge load on my shoulders but I kept my head up high and embraced them and I am a much better person because of it.

I would always see her on the weekends because she lived far from my home in New York. When I would walk in the house, it would be ice cold! Like walking into a ice box. My sister would be shaking and crawling around the floor with a tank top and mini shorts on. She would say that it wasn't cold, it was hot! Her kids, my nieces, were used to this temperature so they thought it was normal as well. It was not!!!!!!!! I used to grab all the blankets in the house, including theirs because they did not need it, and wrap them around me to sleep warm. My sister would shake so much that she was so thin! She sweated constantly because her body shaked whether she would want it or not. It was very difficult for her to eat as well, her jaw movement made it difficult for her to chew. She barely left the house because it would be so much for her to do so. She used to use the scooter, but even that was hard for her to manuever because of her hand shaking.