Personal Childhood Web

The first five people I think of from my childhood are my mother Marsha, father Tim, sister Ammy, brother William and my best pal Ashley.  All five of them were people that influenced me in a variety of ways. 

I am a military brat that grew up in a military town all my life.  As an adult I am still here supporting the military and their families.  My mother is one of the strongest human beings I know.  She was a lone most of the time while my siblings and I grew up.  We grew up together my mother and I.  She was eighteen when she had me.  I can remember her playing outside with us when we were little.  She would make a tent out of sheets on the clothes line for us.  She is a great person and loves me unconditional.  My father was deployed most of my younger years until I was about sixteen and by then I was so independent that my father and I did not see eye to eye most of my teenage years.  He was the typical military man; had to be in control of everyone around him.  Thank goodness I was able to come out of the shadows and see that my father was only trying his best to guide me into adolescent smoothly without making mistakes.  My parents are great people and I don't tell them enough how much I appreciate them.

My sister and I are only two years apart so we disliked each other for a period of our teenage years until we became the best of friends during our early twenties.  We have grown up knowing that family is everything and we should not let each other down no matter what.  My baby brother, well let's just say he graduates high school in a few weeks.  Yes I know what you are thinking; you have a brother graduating.  I was fifteen when we adopted this little guy and man has our lives not been the same since we brought him home.  He taught me to love unconditionally and I want to thank him daily for that.  William is autistic.  We found out when he was about two.  Life has never been the same since then but I am thankful that we brought this child; man now into our lives.

I learned the feeling of betrayal from the person I trusted the most as a teenager.  Her name was Ashley and I loved her like she was my sister.  But she was not family and this was one of my life lessons that my dad tried to teach me.  We were the best of friends since sixth grade and by the time we made it to 11th grade she was going down a different path than I was.  Breaking up with a friend back in high school is just about the worst feeling ever at that age.  So many secrets shared between her and I; and that was all gone with a blink of an eye.  Now as adults in our mid 30's we are friends but I still don't have that friendship that we had.  I do wonder if she ever feels the same way.