Hilja Martinez:  

I remember playing "I Spy" with Jeanne Dodd, hiding behind lamposts and snowbanks, then shooting them as they passed with our camera huns and other secret weapons. Of course I was Ilya Kuryakin (sp?) and you'll have to ask Jeannie who she was. Another memory was going to Jones beach with Carol, singing to the radio to "Red Rubber Ball" by the Circle. Geesh, she had to correct my words again! I actually thought I was partially deaf, or she was smarter than me, because I could not make out the words, and she knew the words to every song!!!! Something I'll never forget was the POLICE coming to get me from a Junior High school Dance. It was the classic power struggle between mother and daughter. I was not allowed to go because "I had just gone to the last one" and I was being punished just in case. She was an overly strict immigrant mother. Well....I decided on my own that this was not acceptable, not fair, and not happening!!!! So I called very politely to Beth's family, and asked if I could get a ride with her to the dance. They said yes. So I dressed, and climbed out my second story window, and walked to Bar Harbour. When my Mom figured out that I was not home, she sent the police to bring me home. I felt kinda proud at the moment that I defied her! A neighbor was a child psychologist. She sent him over to talk to me. I told him that I was being punished for nothing. I didn't smoke, drink, or wasn't having sex. I was keeping up good grades, still playing an hour of piano a day, was our NYC piano teacher's second best student, and sang in the choir. I was in all the sports teams I wanted to me on each season, plus did Estonian rhythmic Gymnastics on weekends. C'mon! Isn't she being a little strict here? All I know is from that day on, she threw her hands up in the air, and stopped trying to parent us. Years later, before she died at 86, she told me that the psychiatrist told her she was being too strict. LOL! Some of you may know that I was engaged in high school which was one reason I graduated in three years. My West Point Cadet, Alan, and I grew up and apart as we grew up in those tender years. He was a momma's boy, and I was such an Independent spirit. They actually had me living in their (Estonian household for a year, as if it was an old country arranged marriage, learning how she cooked for him, etc. I did learn a lot from her, I must say. She was a master seamstress, so I now have made sveral bridal gowns, lace tops and all. They were building an addition to their home, so I learned roofing, wood flooring, insulation, but never learned to use a hammer correctly! LOL! After we broke up, I decided a man would never keep me from pursuing my own dreams. So in my 20's, I climbed tall mountains ...Expand for more