The Girl Who Thought Her Childhood Was Normal.

The Before

We all know the story about the birds and the bees. We know how the bee attacks the bird until the bird goes insane. I guess that's how you can explain the parental figures in my life. I don't know much about the life that was had before me. I know the small stories I was told about my parents. How my mother was this crazy girl, who no one could trust but was unbelievably smart. Or how my father was a handsome ladies man, that played sports and had a fun country life. How these two worlds collided and somehow made me I personally will NEVER understand. To this day, I still am not sure how they met.

I guess we can start on my father, I don't know much about his past, so the boring parent first. All I know about my father is that he has a father who got around, leaving my dad with a few siblings. My dad's mom had a few kids herself. These are the only siblings I know of my father's. There is uncle Jim, he's a tall bald headed man, with a built but onion like belly. He is known to me as "The Eater." He is a carnivore, I'll tell you that he will lick a chicken bone so clean it'll actually look shiny. His all-time favorite thing, though, was his 2 liter soda. He always carried one around, never saw him a day in my life without one. He is one of my all-time favorite uncles, but he also has a scary side to him.

One of the things Jim is known for is his anger, slow to set but quick to burn. He was the football star that no matter the injury, he would keep playing. In my eyes, that's deadly, no matter the pain, to keep continuing forward, means there is no stopping him. I remember a time when I actively watched Uncle Jim threaten to kill my father. I don't recall the argument or how everything went down. I do remember the fear I had. This is just one I witnessed. My uncle loved to threaten to kill my dad and my other uncle. It's almost like a game of who will outlast the wrath of Uncle Jim. A force to be reckoned with, a force I'd never want to find out for myself.

After Uncle Jim, there are my two aunts, Trina and Jen. Jen was my all-time favorite, honestly the whole families favorite. She was so smart and could carry the world on her shoulders with grace. I'll get more into her later in the story. Then there is Trina, I don't have much to say about her. You can honestly call her the black sheep of all the siblings. All I know is I grew up thinking she never liked me or ever wanted me around. That was a feeling I still feel to this day.

After the sisters, you lastly have my father and Uncle Ian. I wasn't that close with Uncle Ian growing up, so I don't know much of his past endeavors. He was the uncle to have a good laugh with, though, and to enjoy a good talk. Now, my father was just as crazy as the rest of them. Just as hot tempered, just as fun to party, and just as wild. I'd give my father some props, though. He is a very calm, angry person. Doesn’t need to shout or yell, but he will hit you where it hurts most. The one super cool thing about my father is that he broke his knee playing basketball, and they put a metal piece in. When I was young, he'd put my hands on his knee and let me feel the movement of the piece.

Now that we are caught up a tad on that family, now on to the exciting one, my mother's. I guess I'll start with the oldest, Mandy, My grandmother, her mother, had her just at the age of 14. My Aunt Mandy is a lot that words can't describe. She is the person EVERYONE is afraid of. No one wants to cross her or make her angry. She will not let you forget about it. Her and my mother were known to fight. Can you imagine, moving to a new neighborhood, where your the only black people around, and you get a call your daughters are getting arrested because one of your daughters threw a mug at the other daughters head? I understand some of the torture I went through because of my mom and aunt.

After my aunt, there are my uncles, radly and phil. All I know about phil is he went to the army and married once before, settling with his now wife. But oh man, uncle radly, the hippie white kid of the bunch. You see, all my aunts and uncles came from different dads, so you can imagine the variety of color in the group. Radly was the youngest. He was also the second most craziest child, right below my mother. It truly was sad, though, how much they bullied him because of his skin, they called him "white boy." We lived in a word where being black was so frowned upon, and now a brother that is lighter skinned, then you deserved hate because he doesn't look the same? I don't know many of radly's crazy stories, other than how much a pot head he was and still is.

The main event, my mother. You know how sad it is growing up every day of your life having someone tell you, "Don't end up like your mother." Wildchild couldn't even comprehend the type of person she was. To a lier, to a prankster, to a hot-headed woman, she is so many things. I was told a story about how my mother took a shit in some strangers' car. Like a literal human feces like Amber Heard did Johnny Depp type shit in some random persons car. They had to put alarms on windows because of my mother. The story I get told the most about my mom is the one where she was supposed to go on a field trip and ran off with her boyfriend. I think that's why I was never allowed to date. With all her flaws, though, she was so smart and talented. She was in the band, and to this day, she has four degrees. No matter how insane my mother was, she was also insanely smart.

Now, how did my parents meet to make little ol' me? That's a story I wish I had remembered. I do remember asking my father, "When you had me, was I a mistake?" And he kind of chuckled and said,"Yes and no, we wanted you, we were planning for you, but you came sooner than we expected." And that sooner than expected so happened to be the first week of August in 2002. Fun fact, the day I was born was the same day the new Anna Nicole Smith show was airing! I believe it was a sign for the heavens above to be born the same day this woman blessed us with her show. Forever in our hearts, Nicole. I can deeply relate to Nicole, though, and the many things she went through.

I went through a lot in my life and to some......my life has just begun.