I was born in 1966, and I lived in Newell California(next to an old Japanese Concentration Camp),with my grandparents 'til about 1971, and this was one of the best times of my life.

As I grew up, I never realized that my grandparents' rentals used to be part of the Old Japanese Concentration Camp. My grandma just called them their cabins.

In one of their cabins, lived an old man named Fred. Fred took a liking to me, and I guess he was poor, because he always went to the dump, and brought me back something. We must of been fairly poor too, since we accepted his "gifts". I remember a doll and a ring that he gave me. My grandma restored the old doll, and gave it back to me for my 18th birthday. I still have this doll today. As for the ring, I lost it in a field when I was in the second grade, and a very large boy found it. The boy knew that I lost the ring, because he began teasing me about it. The ring meant a lot to me, so I looked up at him and smiled, then punched him in the nose. He gave me my ring back, and he never bothered me again. Later on, I found out that my ring was white gold with real diamonds. I guess my ring was worth fighting for.

Living in Newell was really peaceful to me. My dad made a homemade dune buggy, and I always wanted to ride in it. My grandpa made me a homemade tricycle one year for Christmas, and I got a store bought tricycle from my mother,(who I hardly ever saw). (My parents were going through a divorce at that time). My two tricycles were both blue, and I couldn't decide which one I liked the most, so when my friend Lisa, came over to play, she got on one of my tricycles. I had a total fit, so she got on the other tricycle. I still was upset, because to me, it was like choosing between my mother and my grandpa, so I bit her. My grandma found out, and bit me back, really hard. She didn't understand how I felt about my tricycles being symbolic of choosing either my mother or my grandpa, but I would of been in trouble anyway, at least to some degree. I also went to Sunday School at a church that was right next to us, and still remember some of the songs. My grandma really loved the Lord. I also had a dog named Louie, and about a half dozen cats, who I really loved. My grandpa worked for the railroad, and my grandma was a school bus driver. I remember riding around with her and all those kids. I felt like a big girl. We had a lot of snow in the winter, and I remember when my grandpa picked me up and threw me in the snow, then he threw Louie. The snow level was at least 4 feet. I felt really safe with my grandparents, and life was so simple then. It's just really hard to believe that my life was so good an simple, and Newell used to be a not so good place for the Japanese.

When I was in my mid twenties, I was working at a Chinese Restaurant. All of a sudden, a man said to his wife, "whatever you do, don't mess with her". I looked over at him, and I said, "do you mean me?" "He said, yes, you don't remember me?" I knew that I recognized him from somewhere, then he explained to me that I was the one that punched him in the nose years ago. I still didn't know what he was talking about, so he told me about the ring that he teased me with. He told me that his name is Allen, and he learned a lesson from me that he'll never forget. Allen stood at least 6'6". I couldn't believe that he remembered me after all those years.

Now I'm an aid on a Special Needs bus, and I'm thinking about becoming a bus driver, like my grandma was. I'm alive today because of my grandma's prayers, for I went through some hard times later on. I'm proud to follow her foot steps.

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