That's my Mom with Governor Rockefeller. I played with Nelson and Happy's young sons and all the other children of the Rockefeller cabinet. In the hot summer months at Kykuit, we all swam in the beautiful, enormous pool and jumped on the trampoline all day long. We dined on peanut butter and jelly, cookies, soda, and anything else our hearts desired. I didn’t have a care in the world. We were treated like little mini-royalty. Turns out that it’s not the best way to begin your life when you are NOT a Rockefeller. But, I digress, more to come on this later.
It was a year of amusement and bliss. E.T: The Extra Terrestrial was released and that beautiful little alien changed my life forever. Aliens? Outer space? Space ships? Reese's pieces!? This guy knew how to live it up on Earth. The funny thing is, my father (the busiest father on the block) insisted on taking the entire family to see this movie in Manhattan. There were plenty of good local movie theaters in Westchester, but no, he dragged us to a matinee of ET in NYC. This was the last weekend in July. It was hot, humid and I was experiencing lady pains for the third time in my life.
At dinner the night before, my family sat down to eat as my father opened up the discussion. "Here we go again... politics" I thought to myself. Friday night was Pizza night and my Mom got the night off from cooking. As Dad revealed the dinner discussion topic: Steven Spielberg, I rolled my eyes. I just assumed that Steven Spielberg was the Vice President or Speaker of the House. BORING! Just then, in mid eye roll my father caught me and said; "listen you, one day you will appreciate this conversation, so just listen if you don't have anything to say." I was taken aback and rather aggravated that he called me out in front of my older brother and sister.
After a few minutes, and out of 100% spite, I refused to contribute to a semi-interesting conversation. Strangely, it was NOT a conversation about politics. While my family discussed "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Jaws", and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," I mumbled "stupid idiots" under my breath, still fuming from being rebuked earlier. As a result of that show of defiance, I was sent to my room (with my pizza. HA!). I obnoxiously grabbed dessert (a hostess apple pie in crinkle paper wrap)
and I stomped my feet as hard as I could all the way up the stairs to my room. I entered my room, slammed the door and blasted Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" over and over again.
The next day I threw a full on thirteen year old bitch fit. I didn't want to go to the city to see some movie. “Everyone is stupid!” “I'm staying home!” Thirty minutes later we parked in a lot next to the theater. Two hours later, I was the happiest kid on earth. E.T. changed my life. He opened up my mind to things besides wearing "I love Ziggy" sweatshirts & pins, and painting Holly Hobbie statues.
I had never cried at a movie before, let alone shown any emotion to my family members. Suddenly I was filled with e... ee... emotions? I was a 13 year old girl feeling something inside for a little wrinkled spastic alien. I was in love. This is a picture of my ET doll. For some reason I thought he needed a babushka.
The "I just LOVE Ziggy" sweatshirt would be retired and intelligent conversations about aliens, while sipping ovaltine, was what my parents were dealing with now. It would be the next month that changed me forever. There was no turning back, and it was completely my parents fault. I had no control. We took a family vacation to California. This was no ordinary vacation. We stayed in an enormous, beautiful house in Bel Air. It seems like it was yesterday that Leslie the housekeeper/butler would make me a snack, fold my clothes or announce that "dinner is served". He was my housekeeper, my cook, he drove me around, he picked up after me, he told me to go swimming when I asked him too many questions, and he was... my pal. He was also the one that suggested I use hair products made for black women. It was during this trip that I asked Leslie to take me to the ABC offices. I had something to discuss with the people that made the shows. I asked him if he knew Steven Speilberg and that he should take me to his house immediately. More on this trip later on, including diary entries.
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