WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:05.367 So this is Forres Solis interviewing Sue Minsky 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:12.386 on June 20, 2016 at 5:01 p.m. So maybe start out by just telling us a 00:00:12.419 --> 00:00:16.157 couple things so that we can make sure the audio is OK, that's fine or 00:00:16.190 --> 00:00:21.546 fine. I that's fine. OK, OK, so take us back to the conception, you know, 00:00:21.579 --> 00:00:27.967 yeah, was it planned? No, it was not planned, um, in fact, uh. I had just 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:34.046 gotten married and got pregnant immediately. And so, uh, I thought at that 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:38.976 time in 1960, that was natural. I mean, you didn't plan your births, you 00:00:39.009 --> 00:00:43.885 just got married and had babies, and stayed at home and took care of them. 00:00:43.918 --> 00:00:51.606 And so, uh, it was a bad pregnancy. I, first thing, I, I got sick, I mean 00:00:51.639 --> 00:00:57.926 , morning sickness was common. And it was so cute because I had a dog that 00:00:57.959 --> 00:01:02.167 would lay on my stomach, you know, when I'd have to lay on the floor and 00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:06.676 put my legs up on a chair just to feel comfortable, and she would lay 00:01:06.709 --> 00:01:11.206 across my stomach knowing that, and it was a small dog, so it was 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:15.805 comfortable. It was she kept my stummy warm, and that helped, and I 00:01:15.838 --> 00:01:21.406 couldn't eat anything except I would take uh tortillas, small tortillas, 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:29.439 put them in the And the um Uh, it was toaster. And then spread canned 00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:34.786 beans on them and eat tostadas. I could eat tostadas and eggs. That was 00:01:34.819 --> 00:01:39.426 all I could eat without throwing up. It was miserable, and the problem 00:01:39.459 --> 00:01:46.867 with it is that it never went away. It continued. I never became unsick, 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:54.900 and um and I had excessive saliva. I would walk around with a cup and have 00:01:54.939 --> 00:02:00.066 to spit because if I kept swallowing, that would make the nausea worse. 00:02:00.099 --> 00:02:04.977 And he couldn't give me anything for it, he said, and it was a specialist 00:02:05.010 --> 00:02:11.186 for pregnancies, a very well-known doctor. And finally, uh, I went on, we 00:02:11.219 --> 00:02:18.166 went on a trip, uh, with some friends out to North. A Scottsdale and there 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:23.577 there were no houses at that time and it was to a ruins. 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:28.827 And uh I was never feeling well, so I was uncomfortable in this tiny small 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:34.585 car that we had called a Renault, and during the day before, there had 00:02:34.618 --> 00:02:40.816 been a storm, and the rains took part of the gravel road away, and we did 00:02:40.849 --> 00:02:48.849 not realize this. And uh so the, the car dropped down at least 1 ft. And 00:02:49.258 --> 00:02:54.166 when that did, my head bounced up, hit the top of the ceiling of the car, 00:02:54.199 --> 00:03:01.866 and then back down to the seat. And it was such a, a terrific hit that I 00:03:01.899 --> 00:03:06.106 was uncomfortable. My back hurt, everything hurt, and we got home, I 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:10.666 wasn't feeling good, so I went to bed, and during the night, I had to wake 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:16.606 up my husband because The the stomach was grotesque. It looked like some 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:21.805 outer space movie because the arms and legs of the baby were actually 00:03:21.838 --> 00:03:27.927 coming out and to such a degree, 3 and 4 inches from my stomach, and I, it 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:34.927 was moving and it hurt, and um he just rolled over and said, ignore it. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:39.707 And so the next day, I still didn't feel good, felt very bad. It was my 00:03:39.740 --> 00:03:47.740 appointment, luckily, so I went in. And saw the doctor and um. Uh, he said 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:52.767 that things were, we would wait a week and see how things were going. Now 00:03:52.800 --> 00:04:00.245 , to take you back a little bit backwards, um, because I was so ill, and 00:04:00.278 --> 00:04:06.957 because, um, Of the saliva problem. I had been taking a pill to hold the 00:04:06.990 --> 00:04:12.436 baby because he felt I was going to abort the baby, and I felt that this 00:04:12.469 --> 00:04:20.469 pill was making me ill. And so I uh kept complaining about it, and I, that 00:04:20.470 --> 00:04:25.637 was part of one of the problems. So finally, after this, he, he said, you 00:04:25.670 --> 00:04:32.015 can stop taking the pill. And then uh the week went by, and I had to go in 00:04:32.048 --> 00:04:35.846 again to see how the situation was. He says, well, I'm gonna break your 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:41.406 water and then we're gonna put you in the hospital. And um I thought, no, 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:45.656 I can't do that. My bassinet isn't finished. I had not finished my 00:04:45.689 --> 00:04:51.116 bassinet and got the baby's room ready. And I, I, my parents were gonna go 00:04:51.149 --> 00:04:56.106 on a trip to Mexico, and they'd be gone a month. I'd have to, you know, I 00:04:56.139 --> 00:04:59.526 couldn't have my baby now. My mother was planning tomorrow to go to Mexico 00:04:59.559 --> 00:05:04.606 , and I couldn't have my baby without my mother. And so I said, no, I have 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:09.015 to go home. I have to finish my bassinet. I can't have the baby now. And 00:05:09.048 --> 00:05:13.265 he says, well, then you call me when it's time. I said, OK. So I went home 00:05:13.298 --> 00:05:18.346 and during the night, I felt like, oh my gosh, I had to go to the bathroom 00:05:18.379 --> 00:05:23.476 so bad. I had to have a bowel movement. And so I managed to get out, 00:05:23.509 --> 00:05:28.116 struggle to get out of bed because I was so huge. I was skinny because I 00:05:28.149 --> 00:05:34.236 couldn't eat, but I had this huge stomach that propelled out of my skin 00:05:34.269 --> 00:05:39.356 out of the front of me. And so I went to the bathroom, only problem was it 00:05:39.389 --> 00:05:44.745 was all blood. And I looked down because it seemed kind of strange. And so 00:05:44.778 --> 00:05:50.075 I called my husband, he was asleep, and I called him, and he came in and I 00:05:50.108 --> 00:05:55.467 said, call the doctor, and he did, and he said, oh my God, she's having 00:05:55.500 --> 00:06:00.226 her baby get her into the hospital now. And so we got back into the 00:06:00.259 --> 00:06:05.627 Renault and rushed to the hospital. And it was so funny because we had not 00:06:05.660 --> 00:06:12.486 agreed on a name. And I said, it should be Andrew William Molinsky. And 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:17.265 during this ride, he had the radio on, and it was some song, I don't know 00:06:17.298 --> 00:06:21.486 which one, I wish I could remember, but I can't remember the song. But he 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:25.526 said, this is a song I was listen to this. This is a song I was telling 00:06:25.559 --> 00:06:29.526 you about. And I thought, oh my God, I'm in so much pain. You want me to 00:06:29.559 --> 00:06:33.245 listen to a song? And he says, by the way, I decided the baby's name 00:06:33.278 --> 00:06:38.805 should be Andrew Leonard. Because that was his name, Leonard was his name. 00:06:38.838 --> 00:06:43.846 And so I agreed to everything. I just get me to the hospital. And so they 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:49.526 got me to the hospital, got me on a gurney, got me in the room, and the, 00:06:49.559 --> 00:06:54.486 the doctor was nurse was there with a needle to numb me or do whatever, 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:59.586 and they said, no, there's no time, the baby's coming. So without any 00:06:59.619 --> 00:07:04.947 medication, without anything, I had Andy. Only problem is I went out right 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:09.895 after the delivery. I can remember them saying, well, here comes the 00:07:09.928 --> 00:07:13.817 afterbirth, and that's all I remember. I don't remember seeing my baby, I 00:07:13.850 --> 00:07:19.486 don't remember anything. About 5 days later, without seeing my baby, and 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:24.296 everybody in the room at that time, there was, I think, 4 other women. 00:07:24.329 --> 00:07:31.096 There were 5 of us in this room, having babies, and I remember uh Them all 00:07:31.129 --> 00:07:35.776 getting to see their baby, except me. And they kept saying, you know, not 00:07:35.809 --> 00:07:40.616 all babies are pretty. And I thought, oh, my baby would be pretty, you 00:07:40.649 --> 00:07:45.015 know. And so finally I was became hysterical, cause I just knew my baby 00:07:45.048 --> 00:07:48.976 was dead, and that's why they weren't bringing my baby to me. And so 00:07:49.009 --> 00:07:54.515 finally they brought my baby to me. She walked into the room on it was all 00:07:54.548 --> 00:08:00.606 covered with a blanket, except for the head. And I thought it was a doll. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:04.567 And so if she turned and walked away, it would have been fine waiting for 00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:10.916 my baby. Instead she handed it to me, and I thought was not real. The head 00:08:10.949 --> 00:08:17.265 was huge. It had slit her eyes. Sorry, there was a fly on the mic and it 00:08:17.298 --> 00:08:23.217 lighted on the mic. So um can you, I'm so sorry, can you go back to um. 00:08:23.250 --> 00:08:28.055 When she handed it to you, she handed me the baby and uh the minute I 00:08:28.088 --> 00:08:34.496 touched my baby, it became mine. All of a sudden that was OK. It was 00:08:34.529 --> 00:08:38.496 beautiful. It had little slits for eyes, a little slit for a nose, and a 00:08:38.529 --> 00:08:43.985 little slit for a mouth. Had no features. It was solid, swollen. And when 00:08:44.018 --> 00:08:48.505 I opened up, and because I had to check the body, and count the toes, 00:08:48.538 --> 00:08:52.855 count the fingers, and it was beautiful, except the skin was hanging off 00:08:52.888 --> 00:08:59.505 the bones. The baby was so early. And, uh, but covering it up, it was 00:08:59.538 --> 00:09:04.346 beautiful, but all my relatives would come in and say, we're so sorry, you 00:09:04.379 --> 00:09:07.265 know, not all babies are born beautiful. I said, what are they talking 00:09:07.298 --> 00:09:12.025 about? My baby's beautiful. And he's turned out to be the most beautiful, 00:09:12.058 --> 00:09:18.385 handsome man you ever saw, and intelligent. He served in the Air Force and 00:09:18.418 --> 00:09:24.885 um he's done wonderful things. He's married and has two little girls. 00:09:24.918 --> 00:09:28.807 That was awesome. I mean, I don't think you're even need to edit anything. 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:33.167 That's the most seamless story I've ever heard. Can you tell us how far 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:39.125 along you were so that we know what early was? Were you like 7 months? I 00:09:39.158 --> 00:09:44.625 was probably just beginning my 7th month and then do you know how much he 00:09:44.658 --> 00:09:48.807 weighed or any of that kind of? Oh, he was long, he was really long and 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:54.885 the head weighed, uh, close to 7 pounds. Yeah, it was 6 something, but 00:09:54.918 --> 00:10:02.037 close to 7 pounds. Yes, it was a big baby. He's 6'2 now. Yeah, he's 6'2. 00:10:02.070 --> 00:10:07.436 He was a large boy, but he was skin and bone, just skin and bone. So were 00:10:07.469 --> 00:10:13.356 they, um, feeding him formula for those? Oh no, I nursed. Oh my God, and I 00:10:13.389 --> 00:10:20.917 was a small breasted woman and my breast became so huge I could not see 00:10:20.950 --> 00:10:26.596 over I'm laying down. Now my hus I told my husband, go get the camera and 00:10:26.629 --> 00:10:32.557 take a picture. I, I want to see what it looks like, you know, because I 00:10:32.590 --> 00:10:37.076 couldn't see them. They were so big, I could not see the nipples. And they 00:10:37.109 --> 00:10:42.596 , of course, uh, the first thing they did was try to get the baby to nurse 00:10:42.629 --> 00:10:50.236 , and then they would bound me, they bound me up. So that the swelling or 00:10:50.269 --> 00:10:56.316 whatever would go down because I was so huge and my father, he wouldn't 00:10:56.349 --> 00:11:01.917 even come in the room. I mean it was, it was grotesque, they said you're 00:11:01.950 --> 00:11:06.797 saying you were huge? Yes, my breasts were so huge I couldn't see over 00:11:06.830 --> 00:11:12.196 them when I was laying down. They were, it was unbelievable. I wanted a 00:11:12.229 --> 00:11:17.869 camera and take pictures, so they bound your breast. They bound my breast. 00:11:18.168 --> 00:11:20.168 With just, and I know with it, yeah, with gauze around me, uh-huh, and I 00:11:24.849 --> 00:11:32.849 nursed my baby uh for at least 3 months. And he had, the one thing he did 00:11:33.330 --> 00:11:38.297 have, because the stomach, I guess, because of his early birth, had a 00:11:38.330 --> 00:11:44.726 bubble in it. So it's called colic, and he cried, and so I would have to 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:49.936 sit up with him. He would have to be upright in order for him, he couldn't 00:11:49.969 --> 00:11:55.297 lay down without crying the pain. And so we gave him a pacifier. I swore 00:11:55.330 --> 00:11:59.846 I'd never do that, but I had to give him a pacifier. And I would, we got a 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:05.307 a bed, it was from Costco or someplace, I don't remember. I think that was 00:12:05.340 --> 00:12:11.746 the name of the bed, and it was a low bed with netting for sides, but it 00:12:11.779 --> 00:12:17.996 was right off the floor, and so I could get in the bed and sit in the bed 00:12:18.029 --> 00:12:22.385 upright and hold him so that he wouldn't cry all night and I would sleep 00:12:22.418 --> 00:12:28.596 like that. Um, at 3 months, he had the pacifier in his mouth, and he spit 00:12:28.629 --> 00:12:32.836 it across the room, and that was the end of the colic, and it was the end 00:12:32.869 --> 00:12:39.336 of the pacifier, and then he went on to a bottle and uh formula. Can you 00:12:39.369 --> 00:12:43.986 talk a little bit about that era of having babies? Like what was standard 00:12:44.019 --> 00:12:51.895 practice? Well, They didn't, they did not have um anything like they do 00:12:51.928 --> 00:12:59.928 today. I mean, having uh the an early birth, they had the little beds they 00:13:00.489 --> 00:13:05.456 would put them in, you know, that were monitored, but they had, I think, 00:13:05.489 --> 00:13:12.177 you know, the medications and the knowledge uh wasn't there, and, uh, for 00:13:12.210 --> 00:13:18.015 instance, I was torn. Instead of being cut because there was no time, uh, 00:13:18.048 --> 00:13:21.726 I was torn by the baby coming out of the birthday head was so huge, it 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:29.125 tore me. And so, uh, they would during the days that I spent, they would 00:13:29.158 --> 00:13:35.967 put my legs up in stirrups and then they would put a heat lamp on me to 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:42.436 help the healing. The only thing is it was a pole. On my, on my uterus and 00:13:42.469 --> 00:13:47.895 a pull on my back would be in extreme pain, and they couldn't give me any 00:13:47.928 --> 00:13:53.096 medic. All they had is painkillers that were extreme and that would dry up 00:13:53.129 --> 00:13:58.135 my milk, that would, it would hurt the me from nursing, and I had to nurse 00:13:58.168 --> 00:14:04.927 my baby. So I went through it, you know, the whole episode was, they said 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:09.525 , well, you can't remember your birth. So that was the one thing I 00:14:09.558 --> 00:14:13.765 remember thinking as I was told that right away. Women do not remember 00:14:13.798 --> 00:14:17.846 their birth, and that's how you can have so many births because you have 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:24.326 no remembrance of the pain. And so I thought, OK, I will then associate it 00:14:24.359 --> 00:14:30.116 with something that would be painful, so I could say it was as bad as And 00:14:30.149 --> 00:14:35.625 the closest thing I would come up with was Harry Carey. 00:14:35.658 --> 00:14:40.186 And so, and I tell somebody, what's it like to have a baby? It's like 00:14:40.219 --> 00:14:46.505 taking a knife and sticking in your stomach and turning it. 00:14:46.538 --> 00:14:52.217 That's how I remember my births. I had 2 more. I lost 2 babies. There was 00:14:52.250 --> 00:14:59.116 one, I became pregnant again. And uh because I became ill with the 00:14:59.149 --> 00:15:03.076 medication to hold the baby again, I thought, I'm not going through this 00:15:03.109 --> 00:15:07.917 again. So, and I, my appointment was for another 1 week or 2 weeks before 00:15:07.950 --> 00:15:11.667 I'd see the doctor, but I just couldn't handle the illness and take care 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:17.866 of the other one, and it was um It was just 6 months after I had my baby 00:15:17.899 --> 00:15:23.265 that I became pregnant. So, I could not, I couldn't be sick like that and 00:15:23.298 --> 00:15:28.746 take care of Andy. So I stopped my medication, and then I would say maybe 00:15:28.779 --> 00:15:33.746 3 days later, I remember feeling really sick to my stomach and going over 00:15:33.779 --> 00:15:39.746 to see my parents and sitting in the chair, and I thought, oh, I better go 00:15:39.779 --> 00:15:44.625 back to my apartment because I'm going to have a bowel movement. And so I 00:15:44.658 --> 00:15:52.547 went back and I had the baby in the toilet. And uh there was the fetus. 00:15:52.580 --> 00:15:57.106 They couldn't get me off the toilet, and all I kept doing is crying 00:15:57.139 --> 00:16:03.467 because my baby, my baby, and um they told the doctor on the phone, we 00:16:03.500 --> 00:16:07.787 can't get her off the toilet, please come into the hospital, please. I, I 00:16:07.820 --> 00:16:11.226 couldn't, I couldn't get off the toilet because I was attached to my baby 00:16:11.259 --> 00:16:18.505 and I would not leave. And finally, They, they, they, I had to go. They, 00:16:18.538 --> 00:16:24.047 they did and there was no choice. And so they took the baby in a bottle, I 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:31.246 guess, and uh it was a little girl. And um so I lost that one. But we 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:36.667 named her Wendy. So that was my little girl and some day I'll see her in 00:16:36.700 --> 00:16:44.287 heaven. Um, so then the, the second. The next time I was pregnant, uh, I 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:50.967 took my medication. But Andy was older, so I could adapt to it. He changed 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:56.927 it, and so after the 3 months, I wasn't sick anymore. And uh that was a 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:03.797 pretty good pregnancy. And when I had Andy, I reme or Kenny, it was Kenny 00:17:03.830 --> 00:17:10.006 , my second son, and he was um 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:15.545 He was, if I hadn't, was awake, again, I was awake, but they did, they 00:17:15.578 --> 00:17:19.906 were, there was enough time. It came so fast, but there was enough time to 00:17:19.939 --> 00:17:26.467 cut me, and I did have some minor medication, but you still feel the pain. 00:17:26.500 --> 00:17:33.325 And uh they picked the baby up and put it on my chest. He was red. He was 00:17:33.358 --> 00:17:40.967 beat red and he had stark black hair, whereas Andy was bald. And if I 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:46.446 didn't, wasn't awake, and they showed me this baby, it wasn't my baby 00:17:46.479 --> 00:17:51.085 because I was blonde, and my husband had sandy color hair, and here was 00:17:51.118 --> 00:17:59.006 this black straight hair, and so, anyhow, he looked like an Indian, and so 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:04.686 I can remember them bringing the baby to me. And uh the little gal that 00:18:04.719 --> 00:18:08.486 was there, she wasn't a nurse, she was a helper, and she put a pink bow in 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:13.726 his head, on his, in his hair, and, and brought him brought him in and 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:18.476 said, this is the prettiest little girl in the nurse in the nursery. And I 00:18:18.509 --> 00:18:24.325 said, that little girl is my son. But, oh, he was beautiful. Oh my gosh, 00:18:24.358 --> 00:18:29.085 she was beautiful. So that one, that one was OK. They're not quite 2 years 00:18:29.118 --> 00:18:36.325 apart, because I became pregnant again. And so then the next uh loss of 00:18:36.358 --> 00:18:43.506 the baby was really early in the early stage, and I can't even give you uh 00:18:43.539 --> 00:18:49.545 why or when I was up in Payson, we lived in the valley, but my parents had 00:18:49.578 --> 00:18:52.946 bought some property and and had a small cabin, and we were staying in the 00:18:52.979 --> 00:18:58.026 cabin for the weekend with the two children, and I aborted, but it was 00:18:58.059 --> 00:19:04.406 really early stages, and then I became pregnant again. Uh, that was about 00:19:04.439 --> 00:19:12.439 4 years later, and, uh, again, uh, I was sick, so I knew immediately. Um, 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:19.305 actually, to tell you the truth, After 00:19:19.338 --> 00:19:23.766 Uh, we had intercourse. If I was sick the next morning, I knew I was 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:31.026 pregnant. It happened that fast, immediately, and my body, uh, the doctor 00:19:31.059 --> 00:19:36.825 finally told me, nature and God is trying to tell you something that it's 00:19:36.858 --> 00:19:42.107 not natural for you to have a baby, because it's a foreign substance in my 00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:48.186 body and it makes me sick and trying to get rid of it. So my body was not 00:19:48.219 --> 00:19:54.467 equipped really to have a lot of children, and I wanted 8. And so, I'm 00:19:54.500 --> 00:20:01.936 settling for, for 3. And uh Randy, I was the eldest. And I had to take 00:20:01.969 --> 00:20:05.696 care of my other two children, and I remember my husband staying away from 00:20:05.729 --> 00:20:12.166 the house as much as. As possible, uh, during that period because I was, I 00:20:12.199 --> 00:20:16.206 was really, I couldn't eat, I couldn't do anything, and I yet I had to 00:20:16.239 --> 00:20:22.166 take, I would crawl from room to room. I couldn't even stand. I remember a 00:20:22.199 --> 00:20:28.325 girlfriend coming over to visit me and uh we carried on a conversation and 00:20:28.358 --> 00:20:34.246 she left and she stayed for about 2 hours. She later later told me that I 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:40.996 never spoke a word. But I was doing it in my mind. I was that ill. And 00:20:41.029 --> 00:20:48.726 finally, I had called someone and um And said, I am really sick. Now my 00:20:48.759 --> 00:20:53.526 parents stayed away too. Everybody stayed away from me. So no one realized 00:20:53.559 --> 00:21:00.666 how really ill I was. And finally, I had communicated enough that I had to 00:21:00.699 --> 00:21:06.226 go see the doctor, and my mother took me into the office, and I didn't 00:21:06.259 --> 00:21:11.387 feel well. I couldn't stand. And so they put me on a table in a waiting in 00:21:11.420 --> 00:21:16.825 one of the rooms. And when the doctor came in, now I had not talked, I 00:21:16.858 --> 00:21:23.496 wasn't talking, and he came in and he took all of my signs to see what 00:21:23.529 --> 00:21:27.936 they were. My mother was there. And he said we have to put her in the 00:21:27.969 --> 00:21:29.946 hospital. 00:21:29.979 --> 00:21:34.906 Before she loses the baby. And with that, I started crying. Somebody was 00:21:34.939 --> 00:21:41.045 gonna take care of me. And, and she said, well, 00:21:41.078 --> 00:21:46.367 Uh, there's gonna be a few deficiency, but is she that ill? He said she's 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:52.285 about ready to die. This baby is taking everything she has. And so I 00:21:52.318 --> 00:21:57.285 stayed in the hospital for about a week and was well enough to come home, 00:21:57.318 --> 00:22:01.486 and then they were giving me enough vitamins and things, and I felt well 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:07.266 again till I had the baby, and he was just gorgeous, and that's my Randy. 00:22:07.299 --> 00:22:12.946 And after that, I decided, you know, even though my faith says this is 00:22:12.979 --> 00:22:19.746 against their religion to take birth control pills, I'm going to take them. 00:22:19.779 --> 00:22:24.686 So from that point on, I, you know, I didn't have any more children, even 00:22:24.719 --> 00:22:29.246 though I wanted them, but that was my ordeal through the three pregnancies 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:36.835 , and they were, I think, uh, I think the oldest and the youngest. Is 00:22:36.868 --> 00:22:44.868 about About 6 years apart. So that was in the 1st 6 years of my marriage, 00:22:46.108 --> 00:22:52.397 that was it. Our marriage didn't last. We later moved to Payson, and you 00:22:52.430 --> 00:22:57.276 really have to like the person you're with in Payson because there is 00:22:57.309 --> 00:23:03.315 nothing to do, so you better have your best friend with you, and I didn't. 00:23:03.348 --> 00:23:11.348 He met somebody else, and I really was thankful, but I had gone to uh uh 00:23:11.439 --> 00:23:17.936 it was um She was Um 00:23:17.969 --> 00:23:25.217 Not a gypsy, but someone who would give you readings, and she told me that 00:23:25.250 --> 00:23:30.897 my husband don't ever say you want to leave, uh, just say that you're 00:23:30.930 --> 00:23:36.335 unhappy and he will ask you for the divorce, but if you ask him, he will 00:23:36.368 --> 00:23:44.368 deny you one. And so when he asked me for a divorce. I started um. I 00:23:45.390 --> 00:23:51.506 started laughing because it was word for word what she had told me, and he 00:23:51.539 --> 00:23:59.539 thought that I was hysterical or something, and uh I said, no, that's 00:23:59.699 --> 00:24:04.756 meant to be, and uh just wanted a separation for a while and then we'll 00:24:04.789 --> 00:24:10.387 get divorced because I didn't want the three children to be too upset. So 00:24:10.420 --> 00:24:18.420 that's how it ended. And I became my own person. I went back into my arts 00:24:19.608 --> 00:24:26.545 and I made a good living. And uh he is retired school teacher, and I just 00:24:26.578 --> 00:24:32.686 sold my business for $6 million. 00:24:32.719 --> 00:24:37.805 And I'm going to retire because I'm 80 now. 00:24:37.838 --> 00:24:40.706 And that's the story. 00:24:40.739 --> 00:24:46.986 That's freaking amazing. You are seriously are one of our very top 00:24:47.019 --> 00:24:51.976 storytellers, like you have a gift for storytelling. I used to be able to 00:24:52.009 --> 00:24:56.335 give speeches. In fact, one of the biggest speeches was at Mesa Community 00:24:56.368 --> 00:25:02.696 College for Women in Business. There were 500 attendees, but about 3 years 00:25:02.729 --> 00:25:06.996 ago I had a stroke, and I was asked to speak at the realtor's conve or 00:25:07.029 --> 00:25:11.637 think. Uh, with all the, I don't know, they have a, not a convention, but 00:25:11.670 --> 00:25:15.897 um once a month they have a meeting. And I got up in front of them, and 00:25:15.930 --> 00:25:21.107 then for the first time I realized I could not pronounce all my words. I 00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:25.825 hesitated because my brain could not follow through, even though I was 00:25:25.858 --> 00:25:32.946 thinking it, I couldn't say it. I had to apologize as I after a few words. 00:25:32.979 --> 00:25:37.686 And thank them for asking me, but that I could not really give them what 00:25:37.719 --> 00:25:44.026 they intended. Uh, you know, me to give them because I couldn't, I could 00:25:44.059 --> 00:25:48.906 not follow through as a speaker anymore, but I gave lectures all through 00:25:48.939 --> 00:25:54.467 the years, yes. How have you recovered like this then? Well, I went after 00:25:54.500 --> 00:25:57.406 they gave me medication. 00:25:57.439 --> 00:26:01.936 For, uh, coming out of it. I went blind, and I couldn't walk, I couldn't 00:26:01.969 --> 00:26:06.656 do anything. And finally, and that scared me. I didn't tell anybody how 00:26:06.689 --> 00:26:11.897 scared I was about the blindness, but slowly I got my eyesight back. I saw 00:26:11.930 --> 00:26:16.857 threes and then I saw twos, and then I finally got sight, but I uh I have 00:26:16.890 --> 00:26:21.736 glasses for everything. I am blurry-eyed without my glasses. That's never 00:26:21.769 --> 00:26:29.769 happened before. And I I became uh OK when I went to refill my medications 00:26:30.078 --> 00:26:36.085 they had given me, and it was $300 or $500 for one medication alone. I 00:26:36.118 --> 00:26:41.446 said, keep these, so I went to the wellness center, and um they took care 00:26:41.479 --> 00:26:44.335 of me, and I'm fine. 00:26:44.368 --> 00:26:49.857 You haven't had an incredible life experiences. I mean, that's really it's 00:26:49.890 --> 00:26:54.456 I don't look at it. I just look at it as being different lives. I've had 00:26:54.489 --> 00:26:57.256 many lives. 00:26:57.289 --> 00:27:04.006 And fun. But unfortunately, what happens when you're going through your 00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:09.325 different periods of time and you become these different personalities, 00:27:09.358 --> 00:27:15.285 you think you're having a struggle, and you're not realizing how great it 00:27:15.318 --> 00:27:23.226 is. You're the only time I really paid attention and realized that I 00:27:23.259 --> 00:27:27.347 better pay attention was when I had my babies, that they were gonna grow 00:27:27.380 --> 00:27:33.266 really fast, and those moments in the beginning were just fleeting, and so 00:27:33.299 --> 00:27:38.986 really pay attention to how much fun I was having with them and making it 00:27:39.019 --> 00:27:44.656 the most and remem trying to remember the most. I was so busy all the time. 00:27:44.689 --> 00:27:49.996 I didn't have time to make notes, but trying to remember, you know, 00:27:50.029 --> 00:27:56.256 making a point to remember certain things in their lives, and I took some 00:27:56.289 --> 00:28:01.717 pictures of the pictures, the picture taking kind of weaned at the third 00:28:01.750 --> 00:28:09.335 one, and but Remembering certain things and certain moments in time and 00:28:09.368 --> 00:28:17.285 now that I'm 80. I catch myself going back, and when I see a baby, and 00:28:17.318 --> 00:28:24.186 remembering and feeling that holding my son, what it was like, and rocking 00:28:24.219 --> 00:28:32.097 him or talking to him. It was great, and those are my finest moments. 00:28:32.130 --> 00:28:38.637 I mean, she's like, you can't plan this stuff. That was an awesome ending 00:28:38.670 --> 00:28:43.686 to the recording. Yeah. OK, are we stopping? OK, we're going to end on 00:28:43.719 --> 00:28:46.108 that note.