This is a picture of the strongest woman I have even known,
my mother. She was a loving, caring, and very independent woman. A Mother of 3, 2
girls and 1 boy. My mom and dad met when they were 15 and 17. They were married
by ages 16 and 18 and had a beautiful baby girl in 1978. Both came from broken
homes and had nobody but each other. My mom was raising her two younger sisters
along with her own baby, going to school, and being a wife at the same time. At
16 I can only imagine how hard that was. My grandmother was an alcoholic and
was never home, Mom never knew her real dad and my grandmother never could keep
a man around long enough to become a father.
By age 18 my mother was pregnant with my brother. By then
she and my father had moved into their own place. My mom dropped out of middle
school and was a stay at home mom at this time. My father was a roofer and was
always on the job making money to support his family.
At age 26 unexpectedly she was pregnant again with their 3rd
child, which was me! I was not planned and they were both using precautions to
prevent any more kids but they were blessed with another.
I was 6 months old when my mother packed all of our stuff
and left with her 3 kids in the middle of the night. She did not tell anyone in
her family where we were headed or what her intentions were. At this time my
mother and father had problems in their relationship which I will never know
what those were.
My earliest memory of childhood was at 4 years old. It was
mom, my sister and brother and I living in a trailer house in Azle, TX.
Mom worked 2 jobs so we were home a lot by ourselves. Mom drove an old blue
escort probably the only car she could afford.
At sometime in between 5 and 6 we moved in with my step dad
who lived in North Richland Hills,
TX. We went from rags to riches.
He provided a roof over our head, cars for my sister and brother, and a father
figure for all of us.
Everything was peaches and cream until the year I turned 12.
October 14, 2001 I will never forget this day for as long as
I shall live. My stepbrother, a friend and I were at the Mall. We get a phone
call saying we need come home ASAP something had happened. By the time we got
to the house it was to late. I can recall a police officer locking up our house
and all the neighbors standing around. We were told that my mom was rushed to
the hospital but that was it.
When we arrived at the hospital my family was asked to come
into a room where they explained to us that my mother had passed away before
the EMT was able to get her to the hospital. Then they asked if we would like
to say our goodbyes for the last time. I can remember walking into a room and
seeing my mother lying on a table with a tube coming out of her mouth. *This is
the last image I have of my mother in my mind*
After the funeral I moved in with my sister who was 23 and
had a 5 month old baby girl. Long story short things were complicated for all
of us, we had just lost our one and only support. My sister was raising her
first child without the help of a mother and I rebelled. My brother thought it
would be best I go live with our father who we hadn’t been around for the past
11 years.
So my brother loaded up all my stuff which wasn’t much for a
13 year old and moved me to San Angelo,
TX to live with our dad.
"Although it's difficult today to see beyond the sorrow,
May looking back in memory help comfort you tomorrow."
~ Unknown
