The Life of Susan
Susan Lumiere –
7/16/2021
Calling
all Cyberians—
In
honor of my 77th birthday, I’m writing a retrospective timeline to share with y’all. I’ve known one of you since 1947 and others for mere
weeks virtually. For those who know my bio, mea culpa for the redundancy. There
will be a photo followup with many shots that even
Old Guard members haven’t seen. No really wild, juicy details. Thank you all
for your support and friendship. It means the world to me. 🌎
July
16, 1944// Susan is born at Langley Field Air Base, 🛩 Hampton, VA, and doesn’t even have the courtesy to emerge
at a decent hour! 2:18 AM. ⏰ 🌙 Cancerian Sun, Gemini
Moon and Rising, born in the Year of the Wood Monkey—Clever, creative,
mischievous, youthful, lots of chattering.
♋️
🦀 🌞 ♊️
🌝🈵 🐵
Birthday Big Bangs
July
16,1945// 1st birthday: Atom bomb detonated at Alamogordo, NM.
💥 🍄 ☁️
July
16,1969//25th birthday: Apollo 11 blasts off for the moon.
🚀 🌚
July
16,1994:// 50th birthday: Biggest cosmic explosion known to mankind, Comet
Shoemaker-Levy crashes into Jupiter. 💥 ☄️✨
July
16, 2019//75th birthday: Gournisht- - 🤷🏻♀️ nothing monumental except storms in Texas.
Stand
by for July 16, 2044, my 100th. Wear helmets, seatbelts and have plenty of
candy bars and beer in your bomb shelter. ⛑ 🍫 🍺
Dec
25, 2004// Chanukah and Christmas: 🕎 🎄 Susan meets significant other. 5 hours later, 9.2
earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Approx
230,000 casualties, $15 billion damage. 🌊 🌏 😢
Autumn,1946//2
yr old Susan and Mom sail across Atlantic to UK on
the RMS Queen Elizabeth, 👑 🛳 near to the date of
its maiden voyage, after serving as a troop ship from 1940-1945. In 1972 it
burns and sinks in Hong Kong.
While aboard ship, little Susan develops an obsessive attachment to an
khaki-colored stuffed mouse-bear and is allowed to adopt unfuzzy
“Fuzzy” by a sympathetic staffer. 🧸
Susan lives in postwar Surrey for a year, during which she acquires a
strong Brit accent and a wee bit o’ Gaelic. 🇬🇧 ☘️
Spring,1947//
Col Soskin and family are sent to LA. Susan meets and
lives with Aunt Betty, Uncle Ben, Cousins Shirley and Sandy in Boyle Heights. 🏠👨👩👧👧👨👩👧
Moves
to duplex in 1948. Susan attends Carthay Center
School, across from famous theater. 🌟
Little
Brother Henry born in April, dies on Susan’s birthday, July 16, 1948. 👼 😢
Summer,
1953// Susan is plucked out of cozy environment and transported to a
provincial, dreary suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. 🙁 Bullied by anti-Jewish
kids and mean cousin, Gross Howard Gross. Dad commands troops in Korea. 👨🏻✈️🇰🇷
Autumn,1954//
Susan and Mom scheduled to fly to Nasser’s Cairo, Egypt. 🐪 🌴 Two days before flight, “military
intelligence” realizes mistake and reroutes to Tokyo, Japan. Susan and Mom
cross the Pacific on a naval ship.⚓️
November
4, 1954// Susan and Mom joyfully reunite with warrior dad in Yokohama. Dad
serves as CFO of US Army Headquarters and Court Martial Prez.
🌸 🇯🇵
⛩🏯🍱
Spring,1955//
Susan wins school art contest. 🎨 👩🎨 Prize is trip on Tokyo Bay to small island. Sea is
choppy. Seasick Susan loses her Spam and Wonder Bread lunch. 🍞 🤢 The remains assail a tightrope walker balanced
on ferry boat’s cables. 😣 Cute classmate whom Susan has crush on
observes in horror. 😱 Susan doesn’t get invited to prom. 😿 💃 🕺
Summer,1956//
Soskin family flies back to States. ✈️
Plane loses fuel line. Emergency landing on tiny Midway Island. 🏝 Passengers sleep on sand. Arrival in Honolulu. Susan begs
for $2 to gorge her starving self on 20 comic books—Little Lulu and Tubby,
Nancy and Sluggo, Archie and Veronica. 🐸
Autumn,1956//
Dad stationed at Presidio. Susan wishes she lived in exciting SF instead of
unfriendly San Mateo.
🙁 🌉
Autumn,1957//Back
in LA at last. Susan attends John Burroughs Jr High, Beverly Hills High, UCLA. 👩🎓 📚 🐻
Autumn,
1965// Thankfully, Susan switches from social work aspirations to teaching.
Works on credential. Student teaches 1st grade in ultra wealthy Bel Air and 6th
grade in Watts ghetto shortly after the riots. (Quite a contrast.)
💰🙋🏿♀️🙋🏿♂️
Summer,1967//
Israel at last, 3 weeks after Six Day War ends. Unforgettable adventures and
beaucoup mischief.
🇮🇱 🔯 🕍 💙
Autumn,1964-Summer,
2005// Susan teaches Sunday School, 👦🏻 🧒🏽Hebrew, Academics and Gifted Art in
mid-Wilshire and East LA barrio. 👩🏻🧑🏻 Also works as singer, belly dancer,
fortune teller. 🎤 🔮 🧝♀️
Forced into unwilling retirement for crime of TWO, Teaching While Old. 🙅🏻♀️
👉 👵🏻 👎
Summer,
2005-Summer, 2021// Folk Dancing
👫👫👫 College Classes 🤓
Swimming 🏊 Hiking 🥾 🚶🏻♀️
Dogs 🐕 Cats 🐈 Friends 👩🦰
👨🏻🦱
Disastrous
Online Dating 🤦🏻♀️ Social Media 👩💻 Historical Research 🏛 Writing ✍️
Satire 🎭 Jeopardy! 👨🏼🦳
Trivia 🤔
No mention of Psych 1O1- - 1.5 psycho husbands, 👺 bizarro
boyfriends, 🤪 etc., Interesting, but much too long and
convoluted.
Thank you for reading.
Yours truly,
Susan CM Lumiere
July 16, 2021💙 77 💛 77 💙 77 💛 77💙