Tamara Vickery




Welcome

Tamara Yvonne (Vickery) Busch
The Early Years
Chapter One

As the Summer was fading and fall was on its way, you were about to make your entry into the world. We had just returned from Arkansas in August, where we had lived for nearly a year, trying to adjust to the move and get ready for your arrival. Your brother Rick was now 2 1/2 years old, and since we already had our "boy", we were now hoping for our "girl". The weekend you decided to arrive was warm and beautiful, one of those perfect midwestern September weekends that you know won't last for long. We were at your Grandmothers house in Wheeling that particular weekend, taking care of my stepbrothers & sister, as Mom and Ted had traveled to Cleveland for some reason that I can't remember now. When Sunday Morning arrived I knew that you were not going to wait for them to return. By 9:30 AM I was in the Hospital and the kids were taking care of themselves. Your arrival was a 12:43 PM that afternoon. You wasted no time getting here, once you decided to make your move. I have to say "thanks" for giving me the easiest of deliveries. Your birth was all but painless and amazingly fast. I don't ever recall discussing a name for you. I just always knew that if I had a girl, her name would be Tami and in order to give you a "proper" name we named you Tamara. The middle name of Yvonne was as planned. Brother Rick carried your fathers middle name and our daughter would carry my middle name. The song in the background is the reason for the name Tami. It was one of my favorite movies, favorite actress and favorite song.

You were the best baby that ever was. Unlike your brother who cried constantly, you slept constantly, and within 3 weeks even sleeping through the night. I used to go into your room and put a mirror under your nose to make sure you were breathing! You were so little trouble that we often didn't even believe that a baby was in the house. Our lives were nearly perfect at this point in time. We had our million dollar family - a boy and a girl. Dad had a good job and we were looking around to buy a house.

Christmas of 1962,you were just past 2 and everything was a wonder to you. We were living in a little rented apartment in DesPlaines and I used to stay up half the night sewing dresses for you. Your favorite clothes were "dresses". Pants were okay, but you paraded around in your dresses like the little "princess" you were. But Christmas was here and it was not going to be a "homemade" dress for you this year. So this particular year I went out to Sears and bought you the most beautiful Red Velvet Dress I had ever seen. Now I spent way to much money on this dress and I knew it was going to dig into our budget. Rick had to have a new Christmas Suit, but your dress had taken up much of what I had to spend. Well I got by it and Rick got his suit too, but the food budget paid for it. Santa paid us a surprise visit that year and you were dressed in your new red dress when he arrived. We were shocked when you refused to have anything to do with him. You were screaming and crying and running all over the room, looking for a place to hide. Rick was grinning and laughing and having a grand old time, while you continued crying and hiding. You finally found a safe place to hide when you jumped over the back of a chair and crouched down behind it for the whole time. You peeked over the back a time or two, but would not come out until Santa had left. He left you a giant doll as he said good by. You circled the doll a couple of times before you finally decided to accept his gift. Poor Santa was nearly in tears himself.

The Years flew by (they still are) and before I knew it you were starting school. You were born with Red Hair and Freckles, cute as a button but you never seemed to be conscious of how cute you were. You had lots of friends, always busy and nearly always involved with one friend or another. When it was time to send you to Kindgarten I was somewhat proud to see you go, and at the same time not wanting to turn you loose. The day arrived and I drove you to school. We arrived just before the bell rang and you spotted your teacher. Without a backward glance at me, you let go of my hand and rushed up to hug her. I'll never forget that day - I didn't get a hug at all and you never saw the tears running down my face. All that was on your mind that day was to find out what it was like to go to school and you loved school from the very first day. Never once did you argue that you didn't want to go.

The house was so empty now and I missed having you around. Those mornings when you were at school were so loney. We were expecting what was to become your little sister Denise in January, so I spent your first months you were in Kindergarten getting ready for the new arrival. You did very well in school, proving to be an exceptionally quick learner. Your eagerness to go to school each day was fun to watch. Your brother Rick found the whole thing a little disgusting as he wasn't all that eager to go himself.

You wore your hair in what was a "Pixie" style in 1967 as noted by this picture, which I believe is in the 1st grade. Your hair was losing some of the Red at this time but the freckles showed no signs of fading just yet. Sports were beginning to interest you a great deal - you liked to run and rarely walked as I recall. You were now the middle child - an older brother who was bossy and a younger sister who had invaded your room and your privacy. You carried your little sister around like she was a rag doll and would often just put her down and "leave" her, in whatever spot you got tired of her. I found little Denise in some very peculiar places. Easter was always special when you were young. We went to the First Baptist Church of Wheeling and Easter Sunday was a full fledged "Easter Parade". You never missed a chance to show off your new clothes, complete with white gloves and a dainty little purse. The entire family was always decked out in new suits and shoes on Easter Sunday.

The arrival of Christmas in 1967 was much confusion and great fun. The new baby gave Christmas new meaning for all of us and you were always the 1st one who wanted to get the tree decorated. It was Tami that always started nagging to get the tree up, generally during Thanksgiving dinner. You were always the one who chose where the tree was to be placed and I know, without a doubt, you were the first one to put the first ornament on it. After that first initial shock of seeing Santa when you were 2 years old, you absolutely loved this holiday. Everyone who came into the house was given the "tree tour" by you. You told them about every ornament, where it came from and who gave it to us or who bought it. You were the first to go to bed on Christmas Eve and the first to get up on Christmas Morning. I still smile when I think of Christmas when you were home. I believe that this was our first family picture after Denise was born.




I think I might have put this photo on a Christmas Card that year - just can't remember anymore. This was a most special Christmas that year because you and your brother both had a new reason for celebrating and keeping Santa alive.






Easter 1970 and you are going on 10 years old. As usual, on Easter, we were all decked out in new clothes. Easter was always a priority for me - and I always made sure that everyone had a new outfit to wear to church.

You and Dee were almost dressed alike this year, but you would not allow identical outfits, so we settled for Red, White and Blue. I distinctly remember you also had a matching red purse - but I think you were hiding it so that it wouldn't show up in this picture.

You were nearly as tall as I was by this time and would stand on tiptoe to look at me - eye level - when you wanted to do something that you knew I was going to say no to.









In the 2nd grade your hair was still short and the freckles were still dominant.

By now they were beginning to irritate you and you were trying everything you could think of to get rid of them. Nothing worked though.

Your hair still held that beautiful red sheen to it and that also irritated you and nothing we could say made you feel any better. Everyone still told you how pretty you were, but you ignored them - totally. School still remained a favorite part of your life and your grades were good.





We had bought our house in 1963 and had fixed it up and made it "our" home. We measured the height of all you kids on the boards underneath the mailbox. This year (Easter 1968) you had finally reached the top one. You often tried to "cheat" and stand on your tiptoes to be taller, but this year you had really made it. East Norman Lane was a friendly street and as a family we were happiest there than any other place we ever lived. There were so many kids of various ages and all of kids had plenty of friends in the neighborhood. You knew everyone for block around, everyone who lived in this neighborhood was personally known to you.. and nothing could ever be hidden from you. You knew everybody and everything about them. Anytime a new family moved into the neighborhood - you were right there to welcome them.

It was the type of neighborhood where parents could trust each other. Where every child that lived there knew that if they did anything wrong their parents would know about it before they could get back home again. It was the saddest day of my life when we moved out of Wheeling. It was as if I knew that our lives would change forever when the magic of East Norman Lane was not ours anymore.

Our little girl was developing her own likes, dislikes and tastes, and short hair was on its way out. This is about the time when "Mom" could no longer curl it because you now wanted the long and straight look. I think you must have been about 10 or 11 years old at this time and I knew I was losing control. You had long since refused to wear any "Mommy Made Clothes" and you were getting very upset about that "little sister creature" still sharing your room. We knew that you needed your own space and we also knew that our little house was bursting at the seams.

When the Junior High years arrived we found ourselves with this new young lady named Tami. Her hair was long, beautiful, shiny. The little girl with the freckles was fading quickly, although the freckles remained. You were choosing your own clothes, bossing your little sister, and talking back to your big brother and arguing with the your parents. School was still a favorite place to be and the friends were plentiful. You always had someplace important to go - somebody you just had to see "right now"! We were still living in the house in Wheeling and you were in Junior High School. As I recall you were doing very well in the sports department, especially racing/relay contests and you were a front runner on the track team.


This was to change when we finally sold our house in Wheeling and moved to Buffalo Grove. The house in Buffalo Grove was twice as big as our old one, but there was a lot of adjustment to the new school and friends. You were so very loyal to all your old friends that you refused to join the track team and run "against" them. Your adjustment to the new environment was a long time coming for you and I guess it was at this time that I first realized what a Loyal person you are, how impossible it is for you to leave old friends and make new starts.



About this time we took one of those "Family Vacations". We went to Florida and the boat behind us belonged to your Grandma & Grandpa Gove. I think we spent nearly everyday out on that boat, with some time out for Disney Land, Storybook Land and Busch Gardens.

When High School days arrived you had settled into your new life in Buffalo Grove. The friends left in Wheeling had finally been delegated to their place in history. Once again the house was full of "Tami and Company". This never bothered us because our childrens friends were always welcome - anytime. I was just happy to have all of you back to normal after what I began to refer to as "The Move". I think in retrospect that we might all have been better off had we stayed in that little house with the best of memories. But here we were, and you were now a Teen-Ager with all that goes with it. You had ups and down in High School as every teen has. Days when school was awful and days when you couldn't wait to get there. Your social life kept me up many nights and it was all I could do to keep up with you. I've since learned that I didn't keep up with you at all! When you graduated from High School you took your Senior trip to Florida as did half the school. I remember that allowing you to take that trip took every bit of nerve I had in me. You have no idea how worried I was about your going off alone with 3 other girls. I imagined every kind of bad thing. BUT - you all got back okay, completely broke and very tan. And of course - more grown up than I cared to admit.

You returned to start the next phase of your life. You had no immediate plans so we waited for you to decide what you wanted to do next.

The course of your life turned out to be working for a few years, living your life, having fun and enjoying your friends.




And Then

Tami meets Bob

TAMI GETS MARRIED

EMAIL TAMI

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"Go To Bed"

A laughing baby girl one evening in her play
Disturbed the household with her noisy glee
I warned her to be quiet but she soon would disobey
For she would soon forget a word from me

I called her to my side and said, "Now dear you go to bed
Your conduct has been very, very rude
With quivering lips and tear filled eyes she pleaded then with me
"Don't Make Me Go To Bed And I'll Be Good."

(Chorus) Don't Papa and I'll be good
Don't Papa and I'll be good"
That's what I heard her say and it haunts me night and day
"Don't Make Me Go To Bed And I'll Be Good."

Our lives have just been gladdened by her bright ascending beam
Our girl now in our hearts was very dear
We hastened to her bed one night she was talking in her sleep
She didn't seem to know that we were near.

I took her in my arms and found her body "raked" with pain
To ease the pain we did the best we could
It broke my heart to hear her cryin' loudly in her sleep
"Don't Make Me Go To Bed And I'll Be Good."

All night and day we watched and prayed, we never left her side
To give her up it seemed we never could
It broke my heart to hear her crying just before she died
"Don't Make Me Go To Bed And I'll Be Good."