Tammy's Upbringing

From Veriya.com -


(Now we can see why she ended up with Lou (who was in his 40's) when she was 18/19.)

I thought that I would back it up a bit so that you could get a better understanding of my thought process and where or why this story is leading…
I was born in East LA at the White Memorial Hospital and spent most of my early childhood there.
My mother is Spanish/Mexican (debatable) and my father is German. I grew up in a religious environment (Catholic). My mom worked full time as a waitress in a club that had “Taxi Dancers” to support us. Taxi Dancers are a thing of the past (I think)- girls that get paid just to dance with guys. My dad was rarely around. My sister has a different father who would always come to pick her up for the weekends; I remember feeling rejected as a child that my dad did not come to get me. We stayed at my Grandma’s house most weekends (in LA on Druid Street).
I remember living in a small cute house in Canoga Park for a while. My mom being a single mother with three kids had to work all the time to take care of us.
Sadie, our babysitter, lived next door. She basically raised us. There were so many great memories growing up. It’s weird how when you’re young you really don’t understand the stress or money issues – just live the moment.
There are so many fun memories with Sadie, like sleeping in sleeping bags on her floor and waking up to her spraying Lysol on us every morning because my sister would pee in her sleeping bag. She taught us how to roller-skate and Christmas she would wrap three store bought balls under the tree. It’s weird how that smell stays with you and never goes away. We cared very much for her, but lost touch with her many years ago.
Eventually we moved into an apartment in Sherman Oaks. We were really bad kids then!! My mom worked nights, my sister watched us and we were out of control. One time my mom came home and saw dog prints on the wall. When she asked what happened, we answered and said, “I don’t know, we didn’t do it”. She was puzzled. But the answer is that we did know. We would shine a flashlight on the wall and the dog would go nuts running up the wall for hours. Another time we had a water fight with the workers at the gas station. We brought the hose through the window and soaked them. They were so mad, but it was fun. We loved to play volleyball in the apartment (which was very small). We’d move all the furniture and put up a net inside the house. We’d break things and call my mom at work to tell her so that when she got home the punishment wouldn’t be so bad.
The big earthquake in the 70’s hit, we were terrified and screaming. It was so scary. My brother and I had bunk beds and we got trapped in our room. The stairs outside fell down and we had to get help to get out, it was a mess. Luckily we only lived there for 9 months. We were very poor at the time. I remember my mom being embarrassed to use our food stamps. It didn’t bother me but I know she cared. She worked very hard and tried to provide for us and I love her for that. We used to get hand me downs from my older cousin all the time.
We moved a lot while I was young. Our place in Sherman Oaks had glass entry doors, but they were so heavy that I couldn’t open them. So I’d have to sit on the steps until someone came to open the doors. I think about that now, how scary it would be for me to leave my child outside like that, I guess times are just different now.
My mom had a home mate and one night I woke up to people yelling, this lady took all of my mom’s furniture and pictures out in the middle of the night. My mom was devastated, the little we had was now gone. Our family helped out, but it was a sad time for my mom.
My mom eventually got married and we moved into a house in Canoga Park. It was so cute complete with a well in the front yard and a play house in the back. We were happy, in the beginning. The problem was that my mom worked every night and her husband didn’t, so he was a build in babysitter. They eventually divorced and we moved again.
Meet our Canoga Park house on Soup Avenue. Sparkling pool and another marriage for my mom, again! I started 5th grade with lots of friends. Shopping at Topanga Mall and going ice skating occupied my days. My mom was happy watching me ice skate and I was happy for my mom that she finally met someone; she didn’t have to work 24/7. But as we all have heard, good things always comes to an end- and she divorced, again.
Then came my life in the OC. We moved to Garden Grove and I went to school at Bell Junior High, then Pacifica High School. I loved it. Orange County was so different from the Valley. The boys were cuter; they dressed nicer and seemed smarter.
My brother played baseball and now enters husband number….5. They are still together and make a great couple. It’s been over 20 years and I believe they are soul mates. He had 2 boys and my mom had us 3 and it was hard to combine families.
My mom was very strict with me. Forbidden to talk to boys or date. Well, at 15 I had a boyfriend (and he was 19). He was cute, fun and loved me a lot. We dated for 2 years. Then I went for the opposite of him and dated a crazy guy who my parents hated. They wanted me away from him and tried everything they cold think of to keep me away from him.