1. SHE WOULD OFTEN DESCRIBE SOMEONE AS "TOUGH AS NAILS".  I BELIEVE SHE MEANT THAT PERSON COULD HANDLE PRESSURE.
2. SHE ALWAYS ADMONISHED ME TO BE 'WISE AS A SERPENT BUT HARMLESS AS A DOVE.'
3. IF I COMPLAINED ABOUT BEING BULLIED OR A RELATED SUBJECT, SHE WOULD ALWAYS TELL ME TO "IG - EM" MEANING DON'T LET THEM GET THE BEST OF YOU JUST IGNORE THEM. 
4. SHE OFTEN CAUTIONED ME ABOUT 'FIRST CLASS DEMONS'.  AS A CHILD I THOUGHT IT MEANT EXTREMELY EVIL PEOPLE.  IT'S ONLY AS A MATURE ADULT I HAVE STARTED TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THIS STATEMENT. NOW I'VE ADDED TO THE DEFINITION, SOMEONE WHO CAN PASS AS A REAL CHRISTIAN. 

The other day I saw a lady bug on a box I was bringing into the house.  I immediately flashed back on my grandmother's lessons.  One of her lessons was about lady bugs. Momsey kept a garden and would ask me to pick some veggies from time to time. She always taught me that lady bugs are lucky and when one lands on you it means you will be lucky.  As I child she always saw them on me and she would say, " lucky, lucky, lucky you are very lucky."  I fondly remember feeling very special and lucky. 

Throughout most of my life I have always felt lucky.  Not in the sense of winning the lottery but in the cards I've been dealt in life.  Thanks Momsey for chanting that mantra, "you are lucky". 

Rukiya

Momsey told me the story of her husband's aunt who lived in San Berdadino, Aunt Elizabeth Looper. When she died Nellie had to travel to LA to help close the affairs, she brought me(RL) too. "California, she said is  where you (RL)  first learned to walk"...no wander we both ended up here at the end of her life. 

I was so blessed to grow up in a family that liked to travel.  Sometimes by bus, often by train we took our annual two week  trip to California.  Going from one end of California  to another:  Los Angeles, San Diego and Oakland.  Along the way we stayed in hotels, visited family and friends and took in most of the tourist destinations and of course several days at the beach.  The fabulous four always had an exciting trip.

One time the three of us went to Tiajuana to see a bullfight.  Nellie's daughter, my mom, Marian was an avid reader and studied all about the tradition and  educated us before we went down to Mexico.  She was mostly concerned about Nellie being tramatized and me being scared.  Well  once the bullfight got started, Nellie was excited to see they served beer, I was facinated with all the Spanish I could understand and Marian was too squeemish to watch and wanted to leave early.  We all had a good laugh when we got back to San Diego. 

I have so many fond memories of traveling with the fabulous four, time does not allow for me to expound of the all.