Fields of Wheat, Rolling on Forever

By Lisa Walsh

Family didnt seem to be important when I was a child. It was something we took for granted. When children played, there would be two parents watching, throwing a ball around, joking or sitting around the picnic table. Well, when I was a little child toddling around, what I remember most is my time with my family in Florida: my Mom, my Dad, my sister Chris and my brother Mike. Family to me, at that time, meant having both parents around.
I believe one of our favorite places to go was Clearwater, Florida. My aunt Fran and Uncle Al lived on an outlet of Clearwater Bay, a few blocks away from the Gulf of Mexico. My dad would often take us fishing off my uncles dock. Uncle Al had a boat that we would ride around in as well, and he would let us drive it, but under adult supervision of course! Mom and Aunt Fran would stay back and either clean the fish which we caught (a dirty job nobody wanted) or just watch us having fun. Mom always liked being outdoors near the water.
Along with boating and fishing, we loved looking at the barnacles that attached to the walls around the bay area and around the posts holding up the dock. Mom seemed to be the one most fascinated with these small and disfigured little creatures. She and the rest of us seemed to enjoy watching these creatures just to pass the time of day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496954473

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© 2014 Lisa Walsh. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse    11/19/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-5448-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-5447-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014920884

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Contents

My Earliest Years - My Family

A Camp That Made a Difference

My Adolescence and Its Connection to Easter Seals

Saving the Best for Last: Le Piece de Resistance!

My High School Years

Stepping into Deep Water with Both Feet

Entrance into the Real World

Walking in Different Shoes

A Challenging Transition

…And Yet another Transition

Back with Kids and Families

St. Louis Bound Once More

A Little More Contact

About the Present – Fall of 2005

My Earliest Years - My Family

Family didn’t seem to be important when I was a child. It was something we took for granted. When children played, there would be two parents watching, throwing a ball around, joking or sitting around the picnic table. Well, when I was a little child toddling around, what I remember most is my time with my family in Florida: my Mom, my Dad, my sister Chris and my brother Mike. Family to me, at that time, meant having both parents around.

I believe one of our favorite places to go was Clearwater, Florida. My aunt Fran and Uncle Al lived on an outlet of Clearwater Bay, a few blocks away from the Gulf of Mexico. My dad would often take us fishing off my uncle’s dock. Uncle Al had a boat that we would ride around in as well, and he would let us drive it, but under adult supervision of course! Mom and Aunt Fran would stay back and either clean the fish which we caught (a dirty job nobody wanted) or just watch us having fun. Mom always liked being outdoors near the water.

Along with boating and fishing, we loved looking at the barnacles that attached to the walls around the bay area and around the posts holding up the dock. Mom seemed to be the one most fascinated with these small and disfigured little creatures. She and the rest of us seemed to enjoy watching these creatures just to pass the time of day.

My family didn’t take time for granted either - we were busy. In Florida, we would even bike, because Clearwater was pretty flat. Well, I rode an adult tricycle back then and I would go and go and go. My Uncle Al and Aunt Fran had some kid’s bikes that they kept in their garage. During the spring and summer months, cousins would come down and enjoy themselves as we did with riding bikes and being beach bums.

With my family, as a child, I remember feeling accepted pretty much. I know as I got older, my brother and sister were jealous of me because of the amount of help I needed (I believe). You see, I have a disability called cerebral palsy that affected my mobility, speech and my hand coordination. (As I got older, it has affected my internal organs as well).

I do remember when we were down in Florida, my dad and mom would bring down my purple soccer helmet to protect my head and I would just run around. I don’t remember wearing this helmet when I was in close proximity to my parents, but when we were out in public, where I would be on solid ground, Mom and Dad would put it on me and I would toddle off. I especially remember wearing it when we would walk up to the beach. Back then, we were carefree and did not worry about what we looked like and what people thought. We were just a normal family walking up to the beach to catch some waves.

Our Florida vacations with Dad seemed to leave me with a sense of normalcy with our family structure. It was that closeness and a time of growing together that added to our family’s love for each other and those who touched our lives at that time. I consider myself fortunate to have such memories of our vacations along with other intimate times we had together. As I recall, we were like other families; we whined; we fought; we borrowed each other’s toys; we laughed; we cried. But most of all, we grew up together and had some great times.

Although our Florida vacations are highly remembered, some of the events that happened in St. Louis can easily be recalled. One event that particularly would stand out in my mind was going to the circus (I think it was my first but I’m not sure). First off, having spastic, athetoid cerebral palsy creates a very comical and animated startle reflex: one pluck and my arms fly high, (meaning my startle reflex is great). You do know that the circus is notorious for cannon ball shots. One time when the clown was shoved into the cannon and then is shot out with a boom, I would jump high, Mike would scream, and Chris would cover her eyes. We were a sight for sore eyes.

Another memory of the circus which I often recall was when Mom would go buy cotton candy for us. She would return to find out that not one of us were in favor of eating the whole thing; thus Mom would end up eating it all. To this day, every time I see cotton candy, I think of the circus.

With regards to our family life at home, I remember Dad and Mom going to church on Sundays. When Mom would go to church, Dad would stay home with us and when Dad went to church, Mom would stay. One of the three of us, Chris being the oldest (and it would only seem right), would go to church with Dad. They would go down to the New Cathedral to mass. Chris was especially close to Dad because of their bonding time. I never really knew why he went down to the Cathedral except for the largeness and the beauty of the inside and the outside of the building itself. I do believe that was the church Dad chose to go to when he lived at home with his family. My mom attended the church in Des Peres which was close to home.

My memory of Dad staying home with us while Mom was running errands or busy doing something in the house is pretty special. He would get down on the floor and we would jump all over him. We laughed, talked and just had fun. I don’t know why that stands out in my mind. This is a memory I will cherish forever.

When I think of the times I spent with Dad, I don’t remember my disability getting in the way of any of my family’s outings. (I’m sure it did, from Mike and Chris’ view, but personally, I don’t recall it being pointed out.) It is my understanding that I did need a lot of help due to my disability and I know that as I was growing up there was some jealousy because of the amount of help I needed (However, during the early years with Dad, I’m not sure that feeling was present.)

Getting back to our family outings, Mom always told me that Dad carried me around all over the place. In fact, both Mom and Dad were great advocates and for the early 60’s that was a very valuable characteristic to have. In the early 60’s if you walked differently, talked differently, or moved differently, you were labeled. This label said you had no thinking or feeling power. You had no dreams or desires and you would probably not be a productive citizen.

Dad and Mom fought long and hard to get me into regular kindergarten in the Kirkwood School District. Needless to say, I was turned away because of my disability. The District took one look at me and how I moved around and talked and said that I would never make it. When I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 1962, my parents were told to put me in an institution and throw away the key. The neurologist that diagnosed me with my disability informed my parents that I would not amount to much; never speak clearly and never be able to make it through school. My parents, for some reason, knew that he was very wrong. So with that in mind, they forged ahead!

With my parents’ strong faith in my abilities, they kept me to themselves for a while and allowed me to grow up as other children would. My parents ended up putting me in a small private Catholic kindergarten program. It was located in Webster Groves in back of an all-girl’s Catholic high school. I remember my teacher. She was sweet and really tried to keep me included in everything we did. I don’t remember my teacher’s name but I do remember that she wore those brown shoes with the flaps on top. After a year of being included with kids without disabilities, I was highly encouraged to enter a special school in the St. Louis area. At that time, there were no other options, or so we thought.

As I went to school, Dad became very ill and died in January of 1966. This was a very traumatic time in my life because I knew he was such a caring man. Because I was so young, I only remember bits and pieces about this time in my life.

I knew Dad was a very caring man. Mom has said he was very over-protective when it came to his kids. This came up when I joined Therapeutic Horsemanship. Mom said that if Dad was around when Therapeutic Horsemanship began, he would never let me ride. Knowing Dad, he would have fallen head over heels over Sandy Rafferty and her inspiration of bringing horses into children’s lives and making a difference.

One of my memories of Dad is his last Christmas. We have a picture of him sitting on the end of the couch in the living room. The Christmas tree was standing in the northeast corner of the living room with millions of toys under the tree and my three wheel tricycle that was shiny silver and blue. Dad was very pale that Christmas as he was in and out of the hospital. We wanted to celebrate one last Christmas with Dad.

It’s my understanding that Dad had been sick earlier in the 60’s, 50’s and late 40’s with a kidney disease. He was in the military when he got sick, and they sort of blew it off, which made everything worse. He was unable to get the treatment as quickly as he needed there. The service gave him a medical discharge. From this point, I think it went into remission, or calmed down a bit, and he went back to work. Dad met Mom in 1957 and they married in 1958. Chris was born in 1959 and I in 1960. Mike followed along in 1962. Mom and Dad married in their early 40’s and did not wait around because they really wanted to have a family.

At the time of Dad’s illness, in the fall and winter of ’65, I was going to physical therapy at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Kirkwood. This hospital was a great support for Mom. As Dad entered the hospital, Mom would drop off all three of us kids there, and Mom would run up to a major hospital in St. Louis to see Dad. One visit, early in January, it was extremely noticeable that Dad had not been bathed or shaved since she had last seen him. Mom immediately went home and called her brother who in turn worked to get him transferred to another local hospital in the county. Once he was transferred and placed in a room with better care, Mom knew he was in God’s hands from that point on.

As I said before, I had been going to St. Joe’s Hospital in Kirkwood for physical therapy. My physical therapist was a gem. Mom could drop us kids off and come back in a few hours. The staff in the department seemed to have a good understanding of what was going on at home. They gave Mom some space and us kids a chance to be a little crazy; wheeling around in the laundry cart and walking around the hospital.

At the time of Dad’s death, both Aunt Fran, Mom’s only other sister and my physical therapist Peggy had played a big part in our lives. If I can remember correctly, Mom wanted to be left alone quite a bit. So Aunt Fran came up from Florida to assist with us kids and the household issues. Peggy helped prepare us for the funeral. She assisted us with getting dressed and going to the wake. (If I remember correctly, I don’t think we attended all of the services because Mom thought we were too young.) She made the time of Dad’s death more bearable, and helped us understand what was going on. I remember I realized Dad wasn’t with us anymore, but Peggy, who later became a friend of the family, and Aunt Fran kept saying that Dad’s spirit will always be part of our hearts.

Life did go on after Dad’s death. We tried to accept the difficult times and knew God was with us guiding us along His chosen path. We knew one of Dad’s favorite places to go was Clearwater, Florida and it was one of ours as well. We continued to go down summer after summer with the help of Aunt Fran and Uncle Al. They helped us with the expense of the trip itself. Mom never turned away from the challenge. She even was able to take the three of us kids down to Florida on the train!

Our life was pretty normal, as normal can be. Mom did take us on several more vacations. We didn’t travel that far from home, but Mom made sure that we went. I believe that Aunt Fran and Uncle Al did help us financially which enabled us to take vacations. We went to Branson several times. There were several rides which we enjoyed and we also liked just hanging out at the hotel and going swimming. I had a life jacket which kept me afloat. Diving off the diving board in the sitting position was fun. Mike and Chris had a great time as well.

We also traveled to Hannibal, Missouri where Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn are from. There was a cave in the area which we went in with a tour. Mom and I were always the slow ones in the group. We always managed though with very good humor. Traveling down the cave was a piece of cake but we forgot about going back up to go home. As I said earlier, Mom and I managed and did very well.

A few times, Mom would take us to the local Holiday Inn five miles from our home. Even though we weren’t far from home, we still had fun and went swimming on a daily basis. We also played tourist and went to some St. Louis attractions. We went out to dinner at local hamburger joints and other places that we didn’t go to on a regular basis. Mom really tried to give us as many experiences as possible to make sure that we had opportunities just like any other family.

After Dad died, we continued to live in the same house in Kirkwood located on Mistletoe Lane. It was a three bedroom home that was built in the 1940’s. It was paid off in 1975 which was a day to celebrate. I knew that we talked a little about our bills while sitting around the dinner table. Mom always cooked dinner. On Fridays, however, we went out and picked up a burger from the local burger joint. I sort of remember that Mom cooked a lot but she also cooked similar meals served on the same day every week. (I do believe this is true.)

Chris and I shared the same room for awhile. I remember that we had a red light in our bedroom window. Everyone made fun of it. People said it was like the room was a red light district and all men were welcome. Well, that was far from the case but we all laughed anyway.

When Mom came up with the money to work on the house, Chris made her room in the attic and mom made the garage into a room for Mike. Mike had a tiny room off of the kitchen. We turned that into a family room where we had a love seat, a straight back chair, and a recliner.

This construction made more room for us and gave everybody a little more space (and some privacy as well) as we got older and needed more time for ourselves. She left the kitchen small (until the 90’s), and I remember it well, being very small and fitting four chairs around the table. At one point, I think someone had an incident with the ketchup bottle and squirted some up on the ceiling. After that occurred, whenever we sat at the table, we said that our attic was haunted as there was a man upstairs bleeding down. We often laughed about the man upstairs.

Chris and Mike went to school in the Kirkwood School District and they both had their clubs in which they were involved. Chris was in the Media Club and Dance Club. She took ballet and tap, as well as dance in private lessons given by one of our neighbors. She was very talented and enjoyed any type of dance.

Chris was a volunteer coordinator for Therapeutic Horsemanship, a group that I was active in with Easter Seals. She also worked at a local amusement park through the summer. Chris sold balloons and seemed to enjoy that particular job. She graduated from Kirkwood High school in 1976.

After Chris graduated from Kirkwood High School she attended a small private all girl’s school in Nevada, Missouri, where she received an associate’s degree. From there, Chris attended University of Missouri in Columbia and studied Regular Education and Special Education. I’m not sure if this specialty had to do with her interest in children with disabilities but she sure was good with kids and she was very creative.

Chris dated a few guys and really seemed to have a good time. She was very involved in the Easter Seals programs and really took a leadership role. There were two guys who volunteered with the Easter Seals programs who seemed to have a good time with Chris. She was always bubbly and really enjoyed being a part of the group. She was a very good leader and seemed to have the quality of looking beyond a person’s disability.

In high school, Chris dated a guy from Kirkwood High. He was a sweetie. Chris and this young man were quite the pair. His family made homemade wine which added to a few parties, especially the 5th year anniversary party for Therapeutic Horsemanship. He also volunteered with