The mirror behind me

Chapter 4

Around this time my husband and I had a son, Wish was born in 1979. My still being in school was no longer available for babysitting. So I hired another lady, who had a daycare she ran out of her house. She was a very good sitter, I never had any problems. After a few years working for the University, I went to work for Travis state School in AustinTexas. I worked there for about a full year and then went to work for Motorola. My husband and I were doing quite well for ourselves. While working for Motorola My husband and I rented a duplex off of Purple Sage. Somewhere within all this time, we were blessed with another son.

I had worked for about 3 and a half years a Motorola before I was laid off. I took the layoff and enrolled in Beauty college. I was taking my son and my sister ' son to a babysitter before I went to school. The name of the college was Vogue Beauty College. At that time I was excited about being in school. As a freshman, I entered a rouge Color contest. Being a freshman and black, the black students warned me that I couldn't win. To enter the contest you needed and model. You had to the event a hairstyle with an outfit that originated. I asked my girlfriend to be my model. She wasn't in school but was great doing hair. She agreed, and asked me, what's the prize for winning? I explained that if we placed first place in my school, that we would be going to Orlando Florida to enter another contest, and if I placed anywhere from 1st to 5th place, I would have the opportunity to work with the stars. So you can understand why this was big. As soon as I saw her I asked her for an old wig she may have that I could use on my model's head. What are you going to do with it, she asked? Im gonna use it for my model, I said.

Im creating a butterfly, using the rouge spritz and colors, I said. Im gonna spray it with spritz and then set it on foil and put it in the oven to harden. Then Im gonna take it out, cut it in the shape of a butterfly, and then paint it with gold colors in the design of a butterfly. She had a Cleopatra hairstyle. My model wore a shoestring shoulder long body-hugging dress, with a split on the side. her nails we gold. Black high heels. and golden sequence butterfly top. with sequence butterfly on her face. I sit the butterfly directly at the top of her head. it was awesome. The day of the contest was crazy. I looked at the other competing outfits, and they all looked like Halloween costumes. The men from the barbershop next door to the college, all were amazed by my butterfly. So were the students. Because the students of each school choose their winners, no doubt I had won. The following week when the school paper came out with the winners, my world stopped. There were no pictures of our school. The word out is, they didn't enter our school, after all, the School somehow denied me of that opportunity. The students there said it was because I was black.

As you can imagine this was hit in the face. I was so upset I left school and went to see my friend Around this time she had her apartment. When I pulled up into her apartment parking lot, I noticed my husband's car there. I thought who does he know over here and why isn't he at work. I wasn't expecting my husband to be there. I knocked on the door, it opened and yes, she was surprised to see me. And I was surprised to see my husband there. My friend went to explain how he comes by on his break at times, him and his friend Ben. And that he was waiting on him to check out his car for some reason. At this time my husband was working for the University, in ground maintenance. Which was just across I35 and MLK, and my friend stayed off of MLK and Chicon. So yes I agree it would be a convenient spot to meet someone. My husband got up and said, Im gonna wait for him outside. So he left. . Why I was telling her about what happened, I said, let me hit some of that weed. That's when she said it wasn't weed, and I might not want what was in the pipe. At this time I was looking for something to ease the mental pain I was going thru. So I said give it to me. This is one thing I wished I had never smoked. I asked afterward what it was, and she said cocaine rock. I had never heard of such a thing and had no idea of the effects. Today I have to wonder if my friend was my friend. But at that time my and I became closer than ever. I lost my passion for beauty school. So I didn't go back. My husband didn't mind my friend  hanging around, it gave him an excuse to hang out with himThey loved The Wee Baby, which was the name of my husband Dodge Charger. It was gold with a scoop on top. with meg pipes on the side. They spent hours cleaning and waxing it. It was also equipped with these loudspeakers. I saw nothing wrong with it. Have fun, I would say to them. I was still on the Motorola layoff, So my and I were riding and living our best life. There were certain things that my had gotten herself into. Being her friend we went thru some unpleasant times. But we always bounced back. Why visit my friend one evening. I met a young woman, She was a single mother, with two children. Her daughter was the oldest. We took to each other, from the moment we meet she became my new best friend. I found myself partying a lot I had lost my way. I no longer had a dream. We had a lot of fun together. Some of the things we did were illegal. But I wasn't always with my friends.I had a friend a male,His apartment, which was on the third floor in some apartments off of Springdale Rd. This is where I met most of the people I knew. Women and men. We were just like one big happy family. And He was in the moving business. There was a lot of partying going on in that apartment. There were enough ladies to make a volleyball team. so we did. One of the most memorable times is when we rented a Winnebago to take to the coast, for his birthday. there were people in cars behind us as well. We had all put money together and bought him a nice reel and rod. Luckily we had it insured. While fishing, on the rocks. We all decided to go fishing, And If I had only known B.J. had taken in a little too much to drink, to be fishing. As we cheered him on, he threw the entire reel into the water. It was really funny. We all laughed for a minute. But does was the good old days.