Still Alive #5

The apartment I shared with my mom was one bedroom, front room, kitchen, we had to share a bathroom in the hallway, was not happy about that, but at least the people across the hall were very clean, We lived upstairs, the landlady had the first floor, she was in her sixty's and was a kind and caring person, I will never forget her, when she smiled at you, you could not help but smile back, she only had two upper teeth and not well taken care of.

It is not easy living with a person that drinks a lot, when I came home from work I never knew if she was going to be sober, most of the times she was. Mom got a job washing dishes in a dinner, she worked until midnight. One night I went to pick her up and she was not there, I ask and they said she left when her shift was over. I looked in every bar in town, no mom, so I went home, not knowing what was going on, she came home around three a.m., drunk and falling up the stairs, I thought the landlady would come out and tell us to leave. The next morning mom said her boss had offered to drive her home and he wanted to stop by his home first, they got to drinking and the next thing she knew it was around three a,m..

Mom went to another job, it was right across from my work, it was dish washing also. At this time mom met Leon at a bar and they started to date, and she started to miss work, her boss knew I worked across the street and would call and ask if I knew were she was, I told him probably at her new boyfriends. Mom started to stay with Leon, who by the way was a very nice man and never married. He owned his home, had a car and had a nice job, which he was at until he passed away. I guess my mom felt secure for the first time since dad died, She married Leon in 1956, it had been a year since she came to Michigan.

I moved again to a one room apartment and again I had to share a bathroom in the hallway, she also was very clean, too clean, so I made sure I left the bathroom as I found it. I was going out to my friend from work a lot, her name was Ruth, I adopted her from the first week I was working as my mom. She treated me like a daughter, Ruth had only one child, a son Bruce, at this time he was sixteen. I stayed every weekend with them, I helped her with her house work, her husband Stan was a sweet man, he delivered milk, door to door. I have to admit I did not have enough money to survive, she knew this, and always ask me to her home, even during the week. Ruth had formed a bowling team and I joined up with them, I never had so much fun in my life as I did with the team, it has been over fifty years and I still know their names, Muriel, Barb, Doris, Ruth, Arlene and myself. Ruth and Stan bought property on Lake Michigan and built their new home and four cottages to rent out, at this time. A few years after this Ruth developed breast cancer and had to have one removed and at this time her son was married. Ruth survived ten years, the cancer came back and she was not so lucky this time. She enjoyed living at the lake and the people she rented to, she had a great personality, her son and his wife gave her two grandkids to enjoy also, Bruce now runs the business, his dad passed away two years after Ruth. I now mention this great lady because she helped me in more ways than I could ever tell her. I loved her more than I did my own mom and I still miss her to this very second.

I could no longer afford my apartment, so, even though I hated to do it I ask my mom, the real one, if I could move in with them. Leon worked third shift, so I slept with mom and on weekends I slept on the couch. When my mom would drink I would go to Ruth's home and stay until bed time or stay the night. I met my husband October, 1958, my cousin Bill was married to his sister and wanted me to meet him. I was at Ruth's getting ready to go bowling when Bill came out with Wayne, his first name is Charles, but everyone calls him by his middle name, they all came bowling with me that night.