I'm an only child, my mother is an ER nurse. Until just recently she always worked night shifts. Her days off varied depending on the current hospital schedule. Dad works offshore on oil platforms. Although it changed from time to time, he usually was gone for 10 days then home for 10 days.
Due to their erratic schedules, shortly after my birth, they hired a nanny from the Ukraine to live with us and help with my care.
Nanny's name was Ivanna. Ivanna was wonderful and quickly became part of our family. I don't remember, but I started crawling and took my first steps with Ivanna. My first memories of her were at the park near our house and playing at the beach.
She was a little older than Mom, light skin almost red hair and beautiful green eyes. She taught me to swim and ride boogie boards. We often had picnics at the beach. She liked to sunbathe while I was playing.
My dad's parents divorced when I was about 5 years old. The process was kind of ugly and drug on for a while. Dads sister Becky moved in with our family. Aunt Becky was 13 at that time. Becky grew to love Ivanna also. Often, the three of us, and sometimes Mom would spend time at the beach.
Ivanna was great in the kitchen and taught Becky and I how to cook and bake. Her specialty was stuffed cabbage and Nalysnyky, (Nal-Yes-Nah-Keh] which are fried pancakes rolled up and stuffed with a variety of goodies. She kept the house spotless and Becky and I loved helping her. She made chores fun.
My mom also has a younger sister, Carrie, who is about the same age as Becky. She and my grandmother were living in Oklahoma when Grandpa, died. Grandma worked for an oil company who later transferred her to their California office.
While she was looking for a house to buy, Grandma and Carrie stayed with us. Becky and Carrie shared a room, attended the same school, and really became best buddies. They were both pretty, smart, continually active and shared a lot of interests. Carrie also fell in love with our beaches and mountains. Grandma eventually bought a house not too far from us.
Ivanna received a month vacation every year to visit her family back in the Ukraine. Just before I entered the 4th grade Ivanna didn't come back from her vacation. Later we learned that she had been killed in a small plane crash.
During her absence, Becky had assumed Nanny's duties. After Ivanna's death, my parents started a search for her replacement.
I didn't want anybody else and repeatedly said, "Becky and I can do everything ourselves."
Tiring of listening to me beg, one day Beck agreed, "I think he's right. Ivanna taught me how to cook and take care of the house. I'm 17, I've been handling things since she left anyway, I'd be glad to keep things going."
Reluctant at first, my parents finally agreed to try it for a while.
They agreed to pay her the same as Ivanna, with the money to go into her college fund.
So, for the next 3 years Becky was like my sister, stepmother, and best friend. She took her nanny responsibilities seriously, but really treated me as a loved little brother. She taught me to surf and snow ski, I loved spending time with her.
We cooked together, did the laundry, kept the house clean together. Like with Ivanna these were things we enjoyed. Working as a team we kept all the balls in the air and still had time for studies and fun. Her and I and sometimes Carrie, spent a lot of time at the beach and often skied in the mountains.
Becky was a straight A student, ran track, was a pitcher on the softball team and starred on the basketball team. She was pretty, had curly sun bleached brown hair she often wore in pig tails or a ponytail. Her laugh and smile lit up the world around her. She looked a lot like the poster of Lindsey Vonn, the Olympic skier, that hung in her bedroom.
Carrie was a young Rhonda Rousey look alike. She had an autographed photo of her inscribed, To Carrie, Stay Strong, your friend Rowdy. Like Rhonda she was a black belt in judo, had won several tournaments. Her curly, shoulder length, dirty blond hair was eye catching. Her muscles were well defined, not huge just well, nicely defined.
Becky was the quieter of the two. Mom described Carrie as precocious. The girls spent a lot of time together. I always wanted to be where they were. I was very talkative, rarely shut up.
Mom, Dad and Becky kept a big wall calendar in the kitchen where they posted work schedules and school and social activities. Mom and dad would trade shifts or take time off sometimes so that Becky could attend school functions.
As a junior her steady was a boy named Kenny. He was her date for both junior and senior proms. Like my dad he liked to fish. Dad had a bass boat and a small cabin cruiser for the ocean. Dad and Kenny became buddies and often fished together, sometimes they stayed out overnight.
Often Carrie would spend the day when Dad and Mom were working, and it was just Becky and me. We had a small home gym and the three of us would work out together. Carrie taught us some Judo and we worked a lot on self-defense. I loved working out, but it was even more fun watching them.
In the 6th grade I was invited to my first boy girl party.
I said. "I'm not going."
Becky asked, "Why?"
I said, "There'll probably be dancing, and I'm not very good."
"No problem I'll teach you."
Carrie chimed in, "I'll help, it'll be fun. We'll dance together."
I loved dancing with both girls. Thanks to them, I enjoyed the party but secretly wished they were my dates. After that party, Becky, I, Mom and Dad and sometimes Carrie & Kenny would spend an evening dancing on our deck.
The girls turned 18 a few weeks after high school graduation. As a combined graduation and birthday present, Mom, Dad and Grandma took us all to Hawaii for a week. We spent everyday at the beach. The girls and I were awed by the fantastic surfing.
The fall after we returned Carrie enrolled at a school a few hours away and began working on a degree in petroleum engineering.
Becky enrolled in a nursing program at the local junior college. With both my aunts in school at the same time I saw them only occasionally.
Her sophomore year Carrie got married. I didn't like her husband. She was going to school and working full time. Her husband quit school and spent his time sleeping and drinking. They were divorced after about a year. As I understand she literally threw him and his stuff out of the house.
After earning her RN, Becky moved away to a university where she finished an accelerated master's in nursing program and became a nurse practitioner earning her APRN.
I was 12 when she moved, my parents opted to use part time babysitters and house cleaners instead of hiring another nanny.
I was always big for my age, as a junior in high school I was 6' 2". Thanks to Ivanna and Becky's training I helped keep house, did some of the laundry and cooking. By the time I could drive, we eliminated outside help altogether.
I was active in sports, had a couple of friends but didn't date much. As I entered my late teens, I became kind of quiet and shy around girls, so spent more time at home anyway, a lot of it in the home gym.
My senior year I became infatuated with a girl in my class. The first time I saw her, she was wearing a short white sun dress, white sandals with straps winding up to her mid calf, her hair was short and shiny black. Her skin was smooth and darkly tanned. My aunts and mother were always well tanned, but this girl was much darker. The contrast between her skin and the white dress and sandals was breathtaking.
The first day of school she sat in the desk next to me and introduced herself as Mia. I would find out later she was born in Italy and had moved to the states as a baby. We frequently met after class, sat in the courtyard and chatted. I was quite taken. I wanted to ask her out but couldn't get the courage.
After college graduation, Becky began working for a group of cardiologists. She moved back into her old room. We occasionally spent the day in the mountains. More frequently, we'd spend time at the beach, sometimes with Carrie, riding our surf boards.
Carrie was working for a major oil company, received several promotions. Early in her career she gained respect as an on-site problem solver. Her job required frequent overnight travel.
On one of her first trips to a rig she was harassed by a couple of roughnecks who quickly found themselves sitting on their butts, with a bloody nose and broken fingers. Her no nonsense reputation quickly spread.
The day after my 18th birthday Becky married Kenny, her high school sweetheart. Out of high school, Dad had gotten him a job on the oil rigs. They often had the same work schedule.
Just before the wedding Becky accepted a position as a Hospitalist at a nearby hospital. The large pay increase enabled her and Kenny to buy their first house.
Being the day before the wedding, my birthday was kind of hectic. Mom, Dad and Becky were busy with wedding stuff. Carrie focused on making my birthday special. She wore my favorite outfit. A black bare midriff top, a short skirt, and black high heeled open toed shoes. She had the prettiest feet and calves. The bare midriff showed her six pack abs.
I said, "Care you're wonderful, I know you wore that outfit just for me. Those shoes drive me crazy."
"I know you've always loved them."
A lot of family and friends attended my birthday luncheon. Carrie gave me a Firewire surfboard. I had wanted one for a long time. Opening all my presents, I felt special. Becky and Carrie brought out my cake together, both wore black high heels with open toes.
