When the kids were small, working at the blueberry shed would consist of starting no later than 7:00 a.m. and finishing up around 9 p.m. or even 10 p.m. The girls would stay with Rowena until Mary will pick them up at around 4:00 and then I would pick them up from their Granny Mary's and take them home to only put them in bed. One June night after working long hours in the blueberries, I was rocking Torrie in the Boston Rocker that I had in the living room. We were rocking and rocking. I can still remember her looking up with a smile and saying "leme get my nipple." I wasn't sure I had heard her right but she darted in the kitchen, dug in some drawer and returned with an old Playtex nipple that I hadn't gotten rid of stuck in her mouth. She sucked and sucked and the air hole made noise. She was two years old. I thought it was just a small comfort but it became a habit. She sucked on a "nipple" for the next three years. When she would leave to go to preschool with Mrs. Sami, she would stick her "nipple" in my pocket and as soon as she would get to me in the afternoon, she would jerk it out and plug her mouth. By this time we had traded her "nipple" for a pacifier but we always called it the "nipple." And she could do tricks with the pacifier-nipple. If you stuck it in her mouth upside down, without touching it, she could flip it around so that it fit comfortably in her mouth.
Another memory of Torrie is her nickname when she was a toddler. The year before she turned two she stayed with Shawn Wallis at Marshall. Shawn kept Haley Horton, Sarah Millsap, Will and Kyle Halsted, Taylor and of course Caitlin. Torrie seemed to just run over who ever. Shawn named her the Bulldozer and we shortened it to the Dozer. One day on a drive around the country roads taking some family members on a tour of the farm something was said about the actual bulldozer that we used to make ponds. Torrie tapped me on the shoulder and said not quite so clearly, "I right here mama." Not sure what she said, I had her repeat herself. Driving on down the road, it finally dawned on me ... She was the Dozer and she was right there beside me. Oh I got a kick out of that.
One evening after Shawn had kept the girls, Leisha took the girls home with her to help me out while I coached pee wee girls basketball. When I finally got them, Leisha and Rod were so tickled. For supper one of the things she served was carrots and ranch dip. Leisha laughed as she told me that Torrie had eaten all of her dip with just one carrot. I think Torrie has always been one of Leisha's favorites.
The January before this (1994) was when Torrie said her first complete sentence. Snow had fallen and school had been let out. That was also the day a horrific earthquake rocked California. The television was filled with news of the devastation. While I had her sitting at the bar with her brother and sister, you could hear the news repeating the horrible news. Very gently she reached and patted my arm and said, "wha happened, mama? wha happened?" I think she repeated this question all day long.
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