Memories Of Old Les In Time
Continued
Memories ~ Page 1
have any children of their own.
Their names were Westermeier, Gus and Anna.
They had been friends of my Mother's from the church
we had attended when she was still alive.
My oldest sister, Chloe came to pick me up the next night
from my Aunt's house.
I packed my few belongings in a paper bag,
swallowed the lump in my throat, and
followed her down the street.
I had no idea what I was getting into
and I was scared.
I was silent all the way over to their house.
The walk to their place was just a few blocks
from my Aunt's house,
but it seemed like miles.
When we got there,
my sister introduced us
and talked to them for awhile.
I just sat there on the couch in silence.
my new Mom and Dad.
After my sister left, panic washed over me.
I had been doing pretty much what I wanted
for a pretty long time.
I had been with relatives most of my life
but these people were not relatives and
I had no idea what it was going to mean
to have a "Mother and Father".
Mr. Westermeier asked me if I would
like to have an orange to eat.
I was so surprised because I thought
people only ate oranges at Christmas time!!
I was happy to have it
and we sat at the table and he peeled it for me.
Once again I was quite surprised that he did that for me.
After we finshed the orange,
they took me upstairs to show me my room.
He had built the room on a month before not knowing why,
but now it was to be my room!!
My own room??
This was too good to be true!!
I never even thought of having a bed of my own
much less my own room!!
This room was just beautiful.
It had 6 windows in it,
and the softest bed I had ever slept in.
It had a dresser just for me.
If this was a sample of what it was like
to have a Mother and Father,
it was wonderful!
I thought they must have been sent from heaven.
This was going to be my new home!
The room upstairs in the back was mine.
I was so grateful to them for
wanting to take care of me but still a little scared.
The next morning when I woke up,
I was apprehensive about going downstairs.
I don't know why but I guess
I just didn't know what to expect.
These people were strangers to me.
There was a grate in the floor that let the heat
from the cook stove come up
to keep the room warm in the winter.
I opened it and looked down. I could see
Mrs. Westermeier was making breakfast and it smelled great!!
Next thing, I heard her call me, "Leslie, breakfast is ready."
I went downstairs and quickly ate my breakfast
and hurried off to school.
When I came home, Mrs. Westermeier was waiting for me.
She asked me if I would like some help with my homework.
I said that would be great.
She helped me.
Now that was really different!!
When Mr. Westermeier came home we had supper.
After that I went straight to my room.
It took awhile but I slowly became used to the routine.
Within a few weeks,
I started feeling a little more comfortable.
After about a month I was thinking about what it
would be like if these people really would
become my Mother and Father.
He was a carpenter and she was a homemaker.
What a wonderful home she made too!
I was adopted around this time.
My life became better and better with them.
My new Dad was a building contractor.
I knew since I was little that I enjoyed building things.
When I was about 8 years old, I had built a table and chair
for a little neighbor girl who used to come and visit her
grandparents that lived next door to my Aunt and Uncle.
I tried to do the best
I could to make my new parents proud of me.
I was about 13-14 here.
After I was adopted, I started going to school regularly
although I still wasn't too crazy about school.
My oldest sister was still in college
studying to be a teacher.
My other sister was still living with our guardian
and also attending college.
Living with a Dr. and listening to all
that biology and anatomy stuff just
may be the reason she
went on to have an interest in medicine.
Things were seeming to turn out
pretty well for all three of us.
Everything in my life was so different now.
I remembered when I was younger
and I had gotten into a fight
with some kids out in the street.
I started crying and yelled at the other kids,
"I'm telling my Mother!"
and they replied, as kids do,
"You can't tell your mother anything,
you don't have one!"
I remember crying all the way back
to my Aunt's house.
Now it was all changing.
I actually had some people that wanted to keep me!
I couldn't believe ANYONE,
much less strangers,
would want to keep me as their own!!
I remember the day I first called them Mom and Dad
after I was adopted.
I went down to the kitchen where Mrs. Westermeier
was washing the dishes,
and I just stood there looking dumb
until she asked me what I wanted.
I timidly said to her,
"Would it be alright if I were to call you Mother?"
She put her arms around me and hugged me.
She started crying.
I was afraid when she started to cry.
I thought maybe I had said something wrong to make her cry.
I told her I was sorry
and that I didn't mean to make her cry!
Now I was almost sorry I even mentioned it.
Suddenly she said,
"You are my son now
and I am only crying from joy.
I finally have a child to call me Mother."
She pulled me close to her and kept on hugging me.
I was so happy inside!!
I just couldn't believe it!!
I asked her then if she thought
it would be alright
if I called Mr. Westermeier, "Dad".
The crying and hugging started all over again.
She said he would be so proud if I did.
When he came home, my new "Mother" said,
"Leslie has something to ask you."
Then I asked him if I could call him Dad.
He almost squeezed me to death with so much love!!
**-->Click Here for THE FOSTER CHILD<---**
From that day on, I called them Mother and Dad.
I finally had my own Mother and Father!
I guess I never knew how much I really missed
until I had it once again!
Actually, I never had a Father that I knew.
I was just thrilled.
I was thinking,
"I just might be the luckiest guy in the world"!!
**-->Click Here...TWO MOTHER'S ALIKE <---**
We prayed before each meal and
we ate all our meals together.
I helped my Mother with chores without
even being asked to.
I would fill the wood box or
mow the lawn or whatever
I could do to help out or make them happy.
About 6 or 8 months later,
they got me my first bicycle.
My very own bicycle!!
What a day!!
I rode it everywhere.
About 6 months after that,
my Dad was building an addition to his carpenter shop
and I asked him what it was going to be.
He told me it was going
to be my very own carpenter shop!!
He was going to teach me everything he knew.
but everything I could learn as fast as I could!!
I worked with him in that shop watching
everything he did.
He took me out to where they were building a house.
He let me pick up the scrap wood and put it in a pile.
He would back his Model T truck up
and we would put it in the back of the truck.
He let me help him on the jobs many times
and I couldn't learn enough about it.
I watched every move he made.
There are soo many great stories
I could write about them forever.
It was around this time that I started drawing pictures.
I always liked art but I never seemed
to have much time to do anything with it before.
I drew so many pictures over the years.
This is just a few of them.
**-->Click Here for some of my Artwork<---**
Life was great, I was going to school regularly,
and making new friends.
These new friends were not like my old ones.
They didn't get into trouble.
They introduced me to other nice people.
We rode bikes and went to the park.
We went swimming and just had a good time
without causing or getting into any trouble.
One of my best friends was a guy named Orville.
Orville and I were riding our bikes one day
and I saw this girl walking near the school.
I thought she was just beautiful.
He said he knew her.
She was about my age and I thought she was so pretty.
He had alot of friends and knew quite a lot of people
both at the school and around town.
I didn't quite like school yet, but it was getting better.
I joined some sports in school. I liked track and gymnastics.
Track was easy for me because I could already run pretty fast.
(I had plenty of practice as a kid growing up!!) haha
I actually enjoyed helping my new parents out
around the house.
I was happy helping my new Dad
when he needed me for anything
and would help my new Mother anytime!
My life was turning around!!
I was about 15 years old by this time.
A group of us would go places and just have fun.
There were times when we went to the park,
I would look down the hill at the place
everyone called, "Bum's Hollow".
The train tracks went through there
and the bums lived down there.
My new friends talked about how dangerous that place was.
I just never said a word to any of them
about being there quite a few times myself,
~before my new life~.
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