|
Volume 3, Issue 8 |
|
August 2006 |
|
Hello. My name is Ingrid Brazeau and I am the owner of one of the new shops, “Hottie’s out of Hillyard….Hot buys.” I am a Hillyard native. When my grandfather, grandmother, mother and two uncles migrated to the United States, from Norway, they started their life in Spokane, Washington. None of them could speak a lick of English when they arrived in Ellis Island, New York. My grandfather was the first to find his way here. Back then it was “custom” for a man who wanted entry along with his family, to migrate to the States and hold down a job for an entire year before his family could gain entry as well. My grandfather worked for Kaiser Aluminum and got his family to join him a year later. My mother was sent to school at Bemiss elementary in her “Norweigen” get-up the first day of school. You could pick her out like a sore thumb with the beading on her hat and dress looking like something out of Norway when she was now in America. My mother was embarrassed, I am sure. My grandmother always had pride in her Country, however her pride was ripped away from her when she was forced out of her Country from the destruction of WWII.
I had a normal upbringing in the midst of Hillyard. I went to Bemiss Elementary, Shaw Jr. High and John R. Rogers High also, as my momma did. I hung out at either Courtland Park, Hayes Park, Grocery Boys, or Esmeralda Drug store. My grandmother was a business owner, an Interior Designer and she knew just about everyone, at that time, close by. Everyone in Hillyard looked out for not only their own but for all the others too. It was a pretty cool thing growing up in those days. It was such a fined knit community that my babysitter, when grandma had “serious” business days and couldn’t watch me, was one of our “teachers assistants” daughters at Bemiss, Carol Walsh. My momma worked at Kaiser too, just like her father, and had to work a lot. Everybody knew everybody back in those days and I felt us kids were pretty lucky to have the experience. Life goes on, as it normally
does. I graduated from High School, attended Bible College for a
while, earned my associates degree from SCC and went to work at the
Guardian Insurance. Although I had a great job, my dream was to open
a second-hand store and I expressed that to many of my co-workers.
Some of my co-workers would
Life was not done with me yet though. In 2002 the company that I worked for downsized middle management by 20% and my job was eliminated. I was in shock. With two children now and two failed relationships, I found another job at Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield. My luck started looking up, I thought. Two months after I started that job, I lost my best friend in the World. My momma. My life felt like it had stopped. Everything around me seemed to no longer have meaning without my momma. I couldn’t even believe that it was real. The only person in the world that had ever been there for me was now gone. I sorta lost touch after that and had to quit my job cause I just couldn’t cope. My momma had rental properties that I had to maintain and I couldn’t cope with the “personal responsibility” along with what my job requirements were asking. Plus, there were several other things going on in my life which I “had” to take time for too….namely my children. They had leaned on their grandmother’s as much as I did. Both of my girls didn’t have very strong father figures and my momma sorta stepped in. It was very hard on both of them. I did some odds and ends jobs
during that transition in my life, however nothing that required too
much thought process and more “leg work” cause my thoughts were on
my family, their mental health and dealing with the
My brother and I had decided to get rid of the properties, which was really hard for me to let go of one particular piece of property, cause my momma made me promise to never let that piece of property go under any conditions, however my brother put pressure on me to sell and I did. With the money I received from those sales, I decided to pursue my dream of starting a second-hand clothing shop. I just wish my momma were here to see me do this. That is the only thing that is missing. She was the only one that I ever wanted to really impress in this world and she won’t get a chance to see me open. Sorta makes me sad, however I have her drive and know that in my heart she would be proud…. which keeps me going. She would be proud of me knowing that I am trying to flourish in the same area that she raised me in and try to bring some “Hillyard pride” back to where she was raised too.
I love you momma and this
one is for you…..”Hottie’s out of Hillyard!”
|
My mothers best friend was
Jackie Johnson. She always told me that Jackie Johnson sorta took my
momma under her wing and she always felt much gratitude towards her
for that. Jackie and Tim Welsh own “Garco,” a very successful
business in town. 
dump
off sackfuls of clothing they no longer wanted and I have literally
been holding onto them since. I consider them very supportive friends; ones who I will never
forget. I was employed there for eight years and proudly had gained
my way into a supervisory level and purchased my own home. I felt so
proud of myself. 
“properties.”
I had no idea how hard it was to be a landlord, but I was learning
quickly. I couldn’t tell you how hard it was maintaining the
properties, holding down a job and raising two girls that were
suffering from mental anguish from losing their grandma and
neither of the girls had much support from their fathers. I as well
was dealing with much grief. It was hell.
| Volume 3, Issue 8 |
|
August 2006 |
