Momma and Daddy/1963

(Momma and daddy wedding picture, 1963)

RIB: A Personal MEMOIR

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:21-22)

For Momma and Daddy

Momma was daddy’s rib, first. They married on April 7, 1963, she was 18 and daddy was 19. They had been high school sweethearts. After he graduated from Sanger High they went to Alaska, where daddy went out on a boat and fished, momma was waiting for him in on an island called Metlakatla. Momma got pregnant there and had morning sickness every day from Boi. She told me the people who lived there all had bad teeth because of the water. The people she stayed with had a lot of cats, which made her even sicker seeing all of the cat fur all over the cabin, including in the sinks and drain of the bath tub. That’s how it started between momma and daddy. Mama Tana, her momma used to send her candy bars because she couldn’t keep anything else down.

Momma told me that daddy pinched her arm when “Hello Stranger” was on the radio on their way to the airport. She always hated that song because of that memory.Momma and daddy came back after they had a bad fishing season, and daddy almost drowned in the freezing waters. They came back where daddy worked at Sanger Boats, and he and momma lived in the Medina apartments where they had my oldest brother Ray Jr., momma started to call him Boi with an

“I” since he was a baby, not to confuse their names. I came along when we lived in 1240 S. Fifth in Fresno. We were both born in Fowler, California, where I would go back to live later in life. I have lived here my whole life, in the Valley. My roots are here growing and planted firm, for as long as God says.

Momma and daddy were both from Texas. I was carved from them. Somehow, you have to find a way to get along with your parents because of that.