Hello, lets just say I needed a place to let it all out. To release everything inside and not get badgered for my thoughts or feelings like so many do on popular social media sites. I'm from a small town in Ohio, mostly a farm community, sometimes what I feel is a twisted version of Pleasantville. My father, a alcoholic, wasn't really around much for me, and when he was it was only to use me as leverage in fights with my mom. But my Mother, what a lady! Amazing to say the least. Always working 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet, always tried to give me the popular things that everyone else had, and never ever failed to show me how much she loved me. This woman was a rock, she was mother and father, handyman, cook, wage earner, friend and everything else. She taught me right and wrong, that hard work is the only way to get ahead and that you always did what you could to help others. She fought for the things she believed in, stood by my side no matter what, and loved me unconditional.
Then there was my two older sisters, the straight and narrow, Carol and the wild child, Anne. The oldest would rescue me sometimes from the continuous fighting and arguing by taking me to her and her husbands home and letting me stay over night. I would sleep on the couch reading comic books and enjoy the peace and safety of the night. My other sister tried too, taking me places when she could, but they both had lives and most of the time I just had to sit and endure the horrendous fights.
By the time I was in school I found any excuse to stay after school, going home made me sick to my stomach and felt like I was going to explode. I would spend my day at the river, hiking the ravine, fishing, playing in the woods just whatever it took to stay away from home. I would be out from morning to night whenever possible. When I look back on it now, I realize things seem to have changed when I was born. You look through the scrapbooks and see a lot of pics of my sisters,mom, and dad on vacations and going places. Then the pictures seem to dwindle after that, not so many, no vacations. Hell who knows maybe it was just the cost of having another kid to feed, more stress in the marriage, more fights. So yes, childhood was no great treat.
Oh and one story before I move on. Goldilocks the Hooker & the Three Bears. On one of the attempts to get me out of the house my sister Anne decided it would be great to take me to see the new horror movie at a drive in. So it was great, until I got home and it was time for bed. So my mom, being the smart ass she is, have always loved her humor, began telling me a story about Goldilocks and how she was a hooker and mama bear becomes her madame. Mind you I was 10 so this was nothing short of hilarious for me. Its those moments that made the crappy ones better.
