Did you know..?
Jan. 11th, 2008 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zorathenneI should list this as one of those Pieces of Me I've taken a mind to post every now and then (don't worry, I remember I was requested to talk about the genealogy of my family =)), but this is something about myself that I didn't even know about.
Did you know I was almost a child model?
Neither did I.
Okay.. See.. What had happened was this - The Mom and I were up in the living room watching TV and chatting yesterday, while waiting for Chris to call us to let us know he'd arrived back on campus safely. He'd passed back our way heading back, and stopped by to sleep, eat (omg his BBF I swear is Chipotle. I teased him that if he were a condemned man, and sentenced to death, instead of insisting he was innocent or anything, all he'd be concerned about is if they would allow him food from Chipotle for his last meal. He agreed *facepalm*), rest, hang with me for a moment, then head on.
Anyway, somehow, the conversation The Mom and I were having turned to weight, family, and beauty. I'd mentioned something about how 2 of my aunts would tell me once or twice while I was living in Philly that I was a very beautiful woman, and if I'd lost just enough weight, I'd be a stunning model. Which, to their consternation, I politely made it clear that I had no intention of modeling, and, as long as I was healthy, my weight was just comfy *big bright smile*, thankyouverymuch. To which The Mom replied:
"You almost were."
*blinkblink*
Me: Come again??
Mom: When you were a baby and then a young child, you were getting offers for modeling.
Me: *blinkblink* Really?!
Mom: Yep, I'd gotten quite a few letters from agencies interested in you. (In this she explained that when she was taking me to get baby pictures done - that she did every month from my birth on til I turned a year, then pics of me taken every year - the photographers would mention I was cute enough and personable enough to model, and would somehow get the attention of a few agencies and point them in my direction)
Me: Er.. Um.. Wh-.. How.. How come I never knew about them?
Mom: I had to keep refusing them.
Me: Er.. Why? I'm not mad that you refused them. But, why did you?
And then she gave me the answer that made me go, "Aah.. I see. Gotcha."
Mom: Your father. He would see the offers, and he'd get upset that I turned them down. He would say, "Don't you know how much money we would make?!"
Now, there may be quite a few of you out there who would look at that and go, "Well, um, hell yeah woman! We saw the baby pictures of yourself that you posted (wait til I scan and show you the baby pics that show me around the time(s) I started getting their offers.*)! You could have made a pretty penny! What was your mother's problem with him pointing that out?" And that's just fine to think that. But you see, there are a tiny few of my darlings out there who would understand exactly why she refused just on his exclamation alone, and I will share with the rest of the class.
See, my father, among other.. things.. Was (or may still be) a serious gambler. I won't go into everything, but for one, this man actually forged my mother's signature to sell her stocks so he would have money to gamble. I remember something he'd told my mother during an argument when I was very young (that I'm sure he never knew I'd heard), "Whatever money I make is mine; whatever money you make is mine." I remember him saying that, and tearing up something in an envelope my mother had handed to him, and watching my mother about break down crying. As I got older, one thing I vowed was that if I ever somehow lost my mind and decided to get married, I would never, ever argue over money (a small heated discussion is one thing.. but to that extreme? Hell. No.). I will actually walk away from the marriage before doing that. Say what you want about it; I stand by it. One of my 'Daddy issues', which is why I may never see myself walking down that aisle to begin with. I really would not want to inflict myself on anyone in that way in the first place. But anyway..
If my mother had gone and taken those offers, my father would have done his best to find a way to get his hands on that money, and if successful, gambled every last drop of it. I know there may have been legal ways back then to make sure that he would never have been able to even smell that money, but, being the type of man The Mom was finding out, to say the least, and knowing that he would have done just about anything to get it.. It was safer to just. Say. No.
Did you know she was getting offers from Gerber? I remember seeing letters in the mail from them when I was very very young. Especially when we'd moved into the house in Bay Shore, which would have made me about to turn 4yrs old. I think I'd thought they were for.. I dunno. Baby stuff *shrug*.
I was almost a Gerber Baby.
Did you know I was almost a child model?
Neither did I.
Okay.. See.. What had happened was this - The Mom and I were up in the living room watching TV and chatting yesterday, while waiting for Chris to call us to let us know he'd arrived back on campus safely. He'd passed back our way heading back, and stopped by to sleep, eat (omg his BBF I swear is Chipotle. I teased him that if he were a condemned man, and sentenced to death, instead of insisting he was innocent or anything, all he'd be concerned about is if they would allow him food from Chipotle for his last meal. He agreed *facepalm*), rest, hang with me for a moment, then head on.
Anyway, somehow, the conversation The Mom and I were having turned to weight, family, and beauty. I'd mentioned something about how 2 of my aunts would tell me once or twice while I was living in Philly that I was a very beautiful woman, and if I'd lost just enough weight, I'd be a stunning model. Which, to their consternation, I politely made it clear that I had no intention of modeling, and, as long as I was healthy, my weight was just comfy *big bright smile*, thankyouverymuch. To which The Mom replied:
"You almost were."
*blinkblink*
Me: Come again??
Mom: When you were a baby and then a young child, you were getting offers for modeling.
Me: *blinkblink* Really?!
Mom: Yep, I'd gotten quite a few letters from agencies interested in you. (In this she explained that when she was taking me to get baby pictures done - that she did every month from my birth on til I turned a year, then pics of me taken every year - the photographers would mention I was cute enough and personable enough to model, and would somehow get the attention of a few agencies and point them in my direction)
Me: Er.. Um.. Wh-.. How.. How come I never knew about them?
Mom: I had to keep refusing them.
Me: Er.. Why? I'm not mad that you refused them. But, why did you?
And then she gave me the answer that made me go, "Aah.. I see. Gotcha."
Mom: Your father. He would see the offers, and he'd get upset that I turned them down. He would say, "Don't you know how much money we would make?!"
Now, there may be quite a few of you out there who would look at that and go, "Well, um, hell yeah woman! We saw the baby pictures of yourself that you posted (wait til I scan and show you the baby pics that show me around the time(s) I started getting their offers.*)! You could have made a pretty penny! What was your mother's problem with him pointing that out?" And that's just fine to think that. But you see, there are a tiny few of my darlings out there who would understand exactly why she refused just on his exclamation alone, and I will share with the rest of the class.
See, my father, among other.. things.. Was (or may still be) a serious gambler. I won't go into everything, but for one, this man actually forged my mother's signature to sell her stocks so he would have money to gamble. I remember something he'd told my mother during an argument when I was very young (that I'm sure he never knew I'd heard), "Whatever money I make is mine; whatever money you make is mine." I remember him saying that, and tearing up something in an envelope my mother had handed to him, and watching my mother about break down crying. As I got older, one thing I vowed was that if I ever somehow lost my mind and decided to get married, I would never, ever argue over money (a small heated discussion is one thing.. but to that extreme? Hell. No.). I will actually walk away from the marriage before doing that. Say what you want about it; I stand by it. One of my 'Daddy issues', which is why I may never see myself walking down that aisle to begin with. I really would not want to inflict myself on anyone in that way in the first place. But anyway..
If my mother had gone and taken those offers, my father would have done his best to find a way to get his hands on that money, and if successful, gambled every last drop of it. I know there may have been legal ways back then to make sure that he would never have been able to even smell that money, but, being the type of man The Mom was finding out, to say the least, and knowing that he would have done just about anything to get it.. It was safer to just. Say. No.
Did you know she was getting offers from Gerber? I remember seeing letters in the mail from them when I was very very young. Especially when we'd moved into the house in Bay Shore, which would have made me about to turn 4yrs old. I think I'd thought they were for.. I dunno. Baby stuff *shrug*.
I was almost a Gerber Baby.
 |
| Hee! Me at just under 2 years old, I think. I have to find the rest of the set of pics to get the date.. |
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 02:21 am (UTC)I always get people telling me that Gwen and Tommy should be models. I think gwen would actually love it, but i dont want people thinking im one of those bitch showbiz moms who live vicariously through their children (which i would totally be but without the bitch part! lol)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 02:41 am (UTC)If my father hadn't been.. well.. him, The Mom would have been more than happy to let me do a little modeling and stuff. It would have really made for some nice extra change now and then. I doubt I'm the showbiz type, but still *giggle*.
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Date: 2008-01-12 03:00 am (UTC)It sucks about your dad, though.
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Date: 2008-01-12 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-01-12 04:07 am (UTC)The Mom likes to tell me how cute a baby I was. Of course, the next thing out of her mouth would be, "What happened?!" *snerks*
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Date: 2008-01-12 07:13 am (UTC)*sigh*
But yeah. I am totally there with you on that. *hugs*
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