Mood: PEACEFUL
I arrived home. I was still upset over the bitter sweet reunion with my mom. My dad started getting on my case, once again I became what I was, his personal punching bag. With every hit of my dad's fists I prayed so hard that maybe this time he would end my tormented exsistence in this horrible life I had. No such luck for me. I just continued on as if nothing happened. I kept going to school and working right afterwards. I had a hard time sleeping at night just thinking about keeping alert just in case my dad tried to be stupid again. My sibilings were starting to have thier own emotion problems, with everything going on at home. I remained strong and tried to console them. Telling them that everything would be alright, not to worry about me so much.
Many times I had to work extra hard to keep food on the table and sometimes even pay the rent because my dad use to drink the money away. I was now 16 years old and carried a full load, with having food on the table, paying the rent and making sure my sibilings had clothes on thier backs and did thier homework and went to school. My mom even came around once a month and waited for me to arrive from work on my paydays so that she could ask me for money. I gave her my transporation money every month so that she too could eat. Her new husband did not work and was beating her up too. What a trade off. Thats what I get for feeling sorry for people. My sibilings were so happy to see her once a month. I kept giving her money so that I could see the happiness on thier faces when she came around. But I knew better. I was disgusted with the whole thing.
The supermarket was closing down and I was going to be without a job soon. I was worried. I knew that I had to do something now and in a hurry. I decided to make myself over......look older and act more mature. I dressed up and began job hunting. I went from store to store asking for a job, anything even cleaning so that I could continue to help my sibilings. I lied about my age and lied about having sales experience. I finally landed a job, a real job at a meat warehouse as a meat wrapper. The job was off the books so I did not need to show proof of age or anything. It paid $300.00 a week. I was now making decent money, for a 16 year old. All I had to do was age older and do a good job, and I did just that. I had enough money for everything. I was paying the bills and going to school.
After the first year there I got a raise. I felt so tired all the time. I decided to quit school and just work. I hated the idea of quitting school, but I was killing myself. I took up smoking and I ejoyed cigarettes. They were a good stress reliever for me. My dad did not care since I was paying for everything in the apartment and all the bills. I also had to give him money for staying at home on top of the fucking rent I paid every month. He charged me an extra $ 60.00 a week so that I could sleep there. What a great dad! He would never forget to ask for his money. I started answering him back when he would beat me up. Why not?, I was paying for everything and I was still getting beat up.
I despised him so much. After 2 years at my job, I was let go because my boss made a pass at me and I told him to "fuck off" and he fired me on the spot. I was so mad and scared now because i had no job. I went home and told my dad I was fired and the reason I lost my job and his rely was, Well you must leave this house. I am not going to have you stay here for free. I just broke down and cried so hard. I packed my things and gave my brother some money and told him only to use it in an emergency for food and that I would try to give him more when I could. I went to my grandmother's house and begged her to let me stay there until I could get back on my feet and she agreed. I landed another job at a meat warehouse doing the same thing. That is where I met my husband. He had just came out of the service. 82nd Airbourne division. We started talking and we hit it off. He was the one for me. For the first time in my life, I was in love and happy. I started telling him about my ordeals and he told me, I will take care of you. We were inseperable, I left my grandmothers house and remained with him.
We struggled in the beginning, it was hard because he was staying with his mother and she did not want me staying there and all the while he used to give her money just so he could sleep there at nights. Since she did not want to accept me, we started sleepingin his car. I remember every morning we used to go to "Mickey Dees" to brush our teeth and have breakfast. We went thru so much together, but remained inseperable. I knew he was a good man and that we would overcome the hard times that we were going thru. My husband told me, "I am going to introduce you to my grandmother", I was nervous about that since he told me that she was a great judge of character and a very good person, you see she raised him from birth, so to him she was his mother. I remember the first time that I met her, my husband introduced me to her and she looked me up and down and just said hi. She told me to sit and I did. I felt tension in the air. My husband then decided to go outside and leave me alone with his grandmother to talk. I started telling her about myself and we hit it off. She admired my courage and how I supported my family and how sorry she was to hear about my father treating me the way that he did. We spoke for hours and I even helped her make dinner. I really liked her and I knew the feeling was mutual.
My husband came back and we all had dinner and she told me you are welcomed in my home anytime. I gave her a kiss and a hug and thanked her for our nice day. I called her by her name and she said, "you can call me mom". I felt so good when she told me that. She was like a real mom to me. My husband told her about our situation and she helped us out so much. I even got an apartment and she helped us with dishes and other little odds and ends. My husband already had all the furniture which was stored at his mothers house and she had the audacity to get angry when he came to get it. I guess she felt as if she should keep it all. Go figure....................
My husband landed a job and we started living like a real married couple, but we were really not married yet. My husband worked and I went back to school. We struggled a bit, but his grandmother was always there to help us out. We never took advantage of her, we used to visit her almost everyday and I would help her clean and we would make dinner together and just talk and I even learned how to play dominoes. I like that game now. LOL I considered her as my mother. I loved that woman so much. She was a best friend and the mother I always yearned for. She was a great person, that to me meant the world. As time passed us by, I used to visit my sibilings less and less and they too, suffered thier own little stories with my father, but not as I did. They did what they pleased and he could not control them. They were not afraid of him anymore.
My husband and I saved money and continued on with our lives. One morning I got up to go to school and on train I just threw up. I was as sick as a dog. I went to the doctor and found out that I was having a baby. At first I did not now how to feel about that. I was on the pill and I still came out pregnant..........Go figure. I went to my husband's grandmothers house and broke the news to her and she was so excited about the news. I just had to tell my husband. We made dinner and I told him and he was happy to hear about the news. His grandmother as well as himself, took good care of me. I was very healthy and looked good for a mother to be. After the birth of our son, my husband's childhood friend came to visit from Kansas and convinced my husband to move up there and even promised him a job at the place where he worked as a manager. My husband and I talked about it and my husband even asked his friend again if the job was a sure thing. His friend said not to worry that it was all set.
We packed all our stuff and took our savings out and decided to make a new future in Kansas, it would be a great place to raise our family and prosper. We arrived over there and stood at his friends house and we were ready to start "the ball rolling", only to find out that there was no job for my husband. That made me so mad. I was upset and I couldn't believe that he would lie to us like that. After a week staying at his friends house and still no job, my husband decided to send me back to NewYork to stay with his grandmother, until he could decide what to do. This would be the first time being apart from him. I was miserable and still so mad at his "best friend". After a month my husband told me to come back to Kansas that he had a job. I arrived back over there and my husband had a car and a great apartment with a balcony and a great view. I was happy again. That did not last too long, for the job my husband had, laid him off. Kansas was not such a great place, they dislike people that come from the city. We were not making it over there. We were struggling very hard to make ends meet. One day my husband asked me, " Honey, do you still want to be with me? I said, "of course I do, I love you". He said, "I have no money, no job and I don't know where we are heading to in the future, but I love you and if you still love me, will you marry me"? It was very It was very emtional, I said, YES! I WILL MARRY YOU! (TO BE CONTINUED)