Thumb Sucker

I sucked my thumb with a blankie until I was 9 years old. My mom says that I weaned myself from her breast at 9 months because I wanted my thumb more. Everyone said I was shy. I think I liked having my thumb in my mouth better than having to talk to people. At least I was a "self-soother".

I took my blankie everywhere. I slept with it, took it to school, it went into the forts in the palmettos with me, to sleepovers, even on stage at my first ballet recital I was sucking my thumb with my blankie in hand.

My mom and dad were understanding about my habit. They were downright protective of me and my blankie. They were not the type of parents that dipped my thumb in hot sauce or polished my thumb with bitter tasting things just to make me stop sucking it. You can imagine how many "ideas" they would hear from outsiders. In fact, I remember my mom actually putting honey on my thumb a few times, just to sweeten it for me. If anyone made fun or questioned why I was sucking my thumb with a blanket, my dad would bark at them and say, "That's MY blanket!" Because who would be crazy enough to question why a 6ft, 250lb. man with an overgrown beard is carrying around a blankie?

Honestly, I think my parents may have been a little worried about me having buck teeth. But early one Saturday morning while my parents were asleep and my sisters and brother were watching cartoons, I took off for an early morning bike ride. My sister's pink Huffy with a padded banana seat was so cool. I loved riding it. I rode a few blocks with one hand on the handle bars. The warm Florida wind was blowing through my feathered bangs. Sometimes, if I was feeling brave, I would quickly take my other hand off of the handlebars and yell, "Look, no hands!" Then, just as quickly, put my hand right back to steady the bars. I was cool like that. I started to turn left around a corner when I spotted my neighbors jogging with their 2 dogs. Dogs that I happened to be so afraid of, a German Shepherd and a Doberman Pinscher. I got spooked. I wasn't looking at the road, only the big dogs coming my way. My front wheel hit the curb, where the asphalt met the sand. My bike came to a halt, but I didn't. I went hurling through the air. I flipped over the handlebars. I smashed my face into the asphalt. I knocked out my front teeth and cracked my jaw.

Buck teeth wouldn't be a problem anymore. The fact that I ruined my favorite ice cream shirt...was a problem.

I remember a few times when I lost my blanket. Actually, I remember the moments I found my blanket more than I remember the pain I felt while it was lost.

Once, I left it in a grocery store. My parents must have known the owner personally because we ended up meeting him in the middle of the night at the store and walking through each aisle until I finally found my blankie in the freezer section.

Another time, I remember my dad putting me in his pick up truck and driving until we found my blanket in the middle of an old Florida red dirt road. I was happy to have found it and also sad because I knew it had to be washed.

I remember the day I stopped sucking my thumb. It was during one of my terrible ear infections and while we were out of town. Sucking my thumb was one of the only things that made me feel better during an ear infection. That and when my mom would pour warm oil into my ear. My parents were ministers and we traveled often. We were staying in a Pastor's home in Alabama. I actually remember the decor of their trailer home. Hunter green carpet with plaid wallpaper and Mallard duck border. Apparently, the pastor's wife took issue with my thumb sucking and she asked me in her Southern Alabama drawl,

"Who do you love more? Jesus or your blanket?"

Of course, I loved my blanket more, but I was a good girl and I knew where she was going with this. I had to choose. If I chose my blankie, I would be rejecting Jesus. If I chose Jesus, I had to reject my blankie. I had been raised in the church and was taught to love Jesus and serve Him and His ways above all others. So, I slurred my reply with my thumb still in my mouth, "Jeshush". I actually felt like I had betrayed my blanket. She then said,

"I will give you $20 if you quit sucking your thumb."

I quit sucking my thumb that day, but I never got my $20.