Going to the dentist yesterday reminded me of the time I fell down the stairs when I was five years old. I was the baby of the family with three older brothers. We were very close in age, as my oldest brother is only five years older than me. Wayne was 10, Dennis was 9, Kenny was almost 7, and I was 5. My mom never left us alone, but this one day she had started a new job working at Wayne's Grocery in the small town where we lived. Only we lived way out in the country about 8 miles on a dirt road. My dad was supposed to be home after we came home from school on the bus. But for some reason he was not there yet. Now my oldest brother was like an adult anyway, so he was in charge of us until dad arrived. Now I had been told many times not to carry my doll crib down the stairs by myself. On this one and only occasion, left alone to my own decisions, I decided that I could carry it down all by myself. I guess I didn't want to be upstairs in my bedroom or maybe I wanted to watch tv downstairs. I really can't remember the trip down the stairs, maybe I blocked it out? My doll crib was made of metal and painted pink, so cute. But when I fell and hit my teeth on it, it knocked my two front baby teeth out. I don't remember if they were loose already and ready to come out, but they sure did pop right out! My big brother Wayne was really good in an emergency situation, even at this age, he knew what to do. I can remember lieing on the couch with a wet washcloth on my toothless mouth, lots of blood!! Wayne calmly called our mom at the grocery store and said, "Terri's bleeding." LOL. That makes me laugh!! Cracks me up. Well, I can't remember the rest, I need to ask mom. I guess that's where my youngest daughter gets her independent spirit. I will have to write another post later about my mom's new driving skills. Oh, it's good.
Here is another pic of my siblings and me, we are standing in birth order, youngest (on the bucket!) Kenny, Dennis, and Wayne. This picture was 20+ years ago. They are so tall and I am so short.