The Second 16 Years

Years 16-32 of my life? (1978-1994) Wow, this is where my life started getting stranger and stranger.

Let’s see, the discovery of alcohol and drugs, boyfriends, sex, racing my car, concerts, jobs, marriage, children … and the death of my father.

When I was 16, we moved from my childhood home on Joslyn to Lake Windermere.

That move was traumatic to me. I didn’t want to leave our home. I wanted to stay with my friends. I didn’t want change – even if it did include me having a phone in my room and my own half bath. Dad also threw in a small sail boat to sweeten the deal.

 

I also had my choice of waiting until I graduated to get a new car or I could take my older brother’s old car. I opted for the second one – you know, that instant gratification deal. Not to mention it was a totally sweet car!

Okay, so maybe my parents did spoil me a little bit.

After graduation, I worked for a year and then I got married. Had a couple of pretty awesome kids, bought a house, sold it, bought land and built a house, my father passed away and then I lost my mind. Ended up crawling into a bottle of cheap wine and getting divorced.

I then lived in a trailer (as in trailer not mobile home) and worked in a bar. Nice part about working there is getting a good look through the regulars there at myself. Sobered up, and moved on with my life.

Married again, had two more awesome kids and ended up divorced. I won’t post the details here but the marriage wasn’t pretty.

Survived an assault on my life.

Went to college for the first time in my life. I took general auto mechanics. Instead of going for computer programming as planned, my truck had just blown a head gasket and auto mechanics seemed to be the course I needed to take. Although I don’t do this for a living, it has been an asset in my life more often than not.

Whew, and that isn’t even when it gets the weirdest…