Had you been consulted, ahead of time, and knowing what you know now,

[Boxerfan]

12. I could have stayed in Switzerland if chance had gone that way.

And now judging in retrospect I sorta wish I had been raised there but of course who knows.

But I was 3 1/2

The large folk and my siblings were all watching a water skier on lake LeMan in Lausanne Switzerland. I could not see over the stone wall & and ran towards the toys I had left in the park across the road.

And I ran in front of a car. He braked running over my left foot-smearing it almost flat. I fell back and hit my head on the curb suffering a fractured skull.

I have a vague memory of a memory waking up in the ambulance. Plastic surgery was a new technique & not common in the USA. My foot was repaired and they said I would always have a limp. I ignored that and have always had few complications other than weak ankles and oddly placed bumps. I also survived the head trauma but I can still feel the skull stitches on my balding head.

My Dad came & took me back to Houston.

The real story is my Mom ran away from my abusive rich father. I don't know if she carried a load of cash with her to Switzerland and I never have gotten the real story . I asked her on her deathbed what happened and she refused any details.

I do know she drove a small import car from Portola Valley Ca. to New York and boarded a liner for France. 3 kids all under 8 I was 3 and she managed to make it all the way there. I was told to be near fluent in French in short order-making rounds on the beach begging for snacks.

And I'm the one who ended it all by getting hit by a car. Typical dumb kid move eh?.

Ok I'm 63 now & I listen to Jazz stations from France. And indeed I wonder what would have been.

Lovely Jazz-sooths the soul.
http://radio.garden/listen/la-distillerie-sonore/yh-hG70H

-------TMI ALERT

Oh-My Dad died when I was 13 (or was offed by his new wife who had us kids written out of the will & somehow his family helped her and jeesus b christo it was f'd up family). And she is scott free using up his estate like tissue and I get to see the bills.

My Mom lived to her mid 60's and passed from smoking related lung issues. She was the type who smoked on Oxygen. She worked on the original Star Wars and frankly had a amazing life.