Walter and His Bi-Polar Jumpsuit

Mother, Walter & Me the Summer before I entered MC

Don't let the happy smiles fool you! 

My room was my retreat from reality

Did I mention Walter was Bi-Polar? Oh, yeah, I guess that's another wonderful situation my mother and I went through. When he didn't take his medication he would get up, shower, put on a jumpsuit (it was the 70's, o.k.?) and then proceed to lie on the couch ALL DAY! When my mom got home from work, she would fix dinner and he might come to the table and eat or pick at his food for about 5 minutes. Then he might or might not take a shower, put on his pajamas and went to bed. This at times would go on for 3 months and sometimes as much as 2 years. But when he did take his medication, that's when the real fun started. You see, Walter loved to drink alcohol while taking his meds. Some nights he might not sleep at all. He once bought a shopping center that we in no way had the money for. He ran with a local Dixie Mafia/Club Owner/Loan Shark/Bastard who only encouraged Walter's erratic behavior. This man had a certified crazy running buddy who he could talk into anything and none of these things were good. Walter mostly carry on affairs with the “girls” from the aforementioned clubs his buddy owned, bought rental houses and used cars which usually wound up in our drive way. My mom and I could barely hold our heads up.

One night when I was about 16 mom woke me up and told me to get dressed. After some pretty slick private detective work on my mom's part she did she found out where 1 of his girlfriends lived. So we hopped in the car and drove right over. We had moved (thank goodness) to South Jackson by this time. She lived in a house on Raymond Road, not far from the Dairy Queen where the driveways to the houses were off a little ally in the back. I reluctantly went to the front door with mother as she beat on the door telling him to come out. Since I was about 10 I had started calling him “Daddy” so she then put me up to begging “Daddy! Daddy! Please come out!” So humiliating! He finally came home the next morning which was a Saturday. He and my mom had a long, heated discussion behind closed door that, try as I might, even putting a glass up to the door, I couldn't hear many details of. All I know is that when they came out of their room my mother had the look of submission I had been used to seeing on her face for years and he looked smug and triumphant.

Next, it was my turn. Walter took me in my room and told me that for my part in the activities in those earlier morning hours I was required to read a Proverb a day from the Old Testament, paying particular attention to the passages about honoring your mother and father. I was then ordered to write a synopsis of the “Proverb of the Day” and include specifics about how I had disrespected him over the years right up to present day. I really liked it better when he just laid on the couch for years in his jumpsuit!

Finally high school graduation was coming up for me. I went to Forest Hill High School for my junior and senior years. Yes, we had moved again! I had gone to Wingfield High School my sophomore year and had many good friends, many of whom I had grown up with. But, with absolutely no disrespect to my classmates at Wingfield, Forest Hill just felt like home. I made and still have dear friends from those days, I was in the concert choir and my singing voice landed me the lead in my senior year school play, “Calamity Jane”. O.K., you can laugh now! It was a great 2 years although I had to have a tutor for Algebra because I can't formulate my way out of an extremely wet paper bag with holes already punched in it! My child is acing Calculus 3 and I have know idea where that intelligence came from.

Back to graduation night which was held at the Mississippi Coliseum. My folks dropped me off at the south entrance and went to park the car. I was given very specific instructions to meet them immediately after the ceremony at that south entrance. I was so proud of my diploma and, also, proud of myself for completing the first major milestone in my life, with the possible exception of learning to put my own bag on when I was 9. I was beaming! After waving good-bye to friends who were having pictures made with their families, I made haste to get back to that south entrance to make sure I was there for my folks to pick me up. I waited and waited and waited for, what my watch said, 20 minutes. Maybe they made a mistake and went to the entrance on the other side of the coliseum. I RAN to the north entrance and there they were. I am definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed but I knew where I was told to be! Walter's wrath was the truly the worst I had ever seen or heard and, after 14 years of living with him, I had been the target of most of it. He was furious! He called me “stupid MF”, “imbecile”, “idiot” and lastly said I was so stupid I didn't deserve the diploma I was holding in my hands which by now had my tear stains all over the outside cover.

As it turned out, he was late for a “date” which my mom and I deduced when he just dropped us off in the driveway and and sped off. I shall never forget that night for as long as I live unless I get Alzheimer's Disease like my mom!