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Reasons I Am Who I Am

The day the training wheels come off

I learned at a very early age what determination was.� When I was 5 years old we were living off post in Germany.� I wanted my training wheels off my bike.� On a Sunday my dad decided to spend the day with me teaching me to ride without training wheels.� I remember him holding on to the back of my bike, giving me direction on how to steer and stay balanced.� I was so determined that after a little while I didn't want his help any more.� He let me go.� I was off riding as fast as I could around a square block.� I just kept going.� Dad would wave every time I would pass him.� I rode as fast as I could for what seemed like hours.

�I decided it was time to stop.� I don't remember any directions from dad on how to use the brakes.� I crashed.� I skinned up my knees.� I told dad I was never going to ride again.� After mom put band-aids on my knees, Dad called me back out.� He told me the only way to learn was to get back on and do it again.� All the excitement I had about riding my bike disappeared.� I didn't want to ride anymore.� Dad made me get back on the bike.� I went quite a bit slower that time practicing stopping.� By the end of the day I was still on my bike and riding just as fast as I could around that block.

My Grandparents Visit

We moved every three years with dad.� He was career Army.� We never got to see our grandparents much.� In between the moves we would get to visit for a week and then wouldn't see them again for three more years.� The times we spent with Grandma and Grandpa were special.� I only remember one time that they came to visit.� We were living in Ft. Lewis, Washington. Grandma and Grandpa and my Aunt Karen drove from Illinois to Washington to visit.� I was so excited.� When they arrived they brought me a present it was my very first tiny china tea set.

�I kept that tea set for what seemed like forever.� Through all the moving pieces eventually got broken or lost.� While they were visiting we took them to Mt. Rainer and went sledding in the middle of the summer.� We took them to the beach.� I remember walking on the beach holding my grandma's hand never wanting to let her go.� We were searching for seashells.� She found a starfish washed up on shore.� She gave that to me.� Dad tacked it to a board and let it dry out.� I kept that starfish for a very long time.� Some of the tentacles had broken off by the time I finally threw it away.

My Skate Board

I was in the fifth grade when I spotted a bright orange skateboard with green wheels in the Post Exchange (PX) store.� I wanted that skateboard so badly that I asked Mom for it.� It was summer time not close to a birthday or Christmas so she told me no.� That skateboard in 1977 cost $32.00, which was very expensive for my parents just to buy because I wanted it.� That evening at dinner I stressed (ok, whined) that I really wanted the skateboard and I couldn't wait until Christmas.� So Dad told me that if I would work to earn at least half of the money they would cover the other half.� I babysat that summer every chance I could.

�I only earned fifty cents an hour.� I had finally earned half the money by the end of the summer.� Mom took me to the PX on a Sunday morning to buy that bright orange skateboard.� I couldn't wait until I got home to ride it.� The housing across the street from where we lived had a circular parking lot, which was a perfect place to ride a skateboard.� I found out very quickly after going a round a few times that skateboards stop very quickly when they hit a rock.� I went flying.� Landed on my chin.� The next morning mom had to take me to the hospital.

�I could not open my mouth.� I had knocked my jaw out of joint.� Mom and Dad seemed to enjoy the fact I could not talk for a few days.� I was right back out that day riding again.� Watching carefully for rocks.

Gone Fishing

Easter was always when we would go to Tennessee to see my grandparents.� It had become a tradition when we came back from Germany for the last time.� Easter of 1986 I decided to take my boyfriend, Tony, to meet my grandparents.� He was very nervous.� I just kept telling him he would fit right in with the rest of the crazy family.� He believed me by the time we had left.� My grandfather always had work for us to do when we went to visit.� This particular time he figured he had an extra helper and decided it was time to seine the goldfish pond.� He wanted to gather goldfish to take to the retirement home in town.�

�Being eager to impress Tony volunteered to sane the pond for Grandpa not realizing how large the pond was.� Early the next morning after breakfast, he sent Tony out to gather the seine from the barn to put into the truck.� All the men loaded up and drove to the pond.� I now realize the reason they all went was to see exactly what he was going to do.� Still being eager to please he figured the only way to seine the pond was to just jump right in and swim it.� It was the middle of March Easter came early that year.� I did have one uncle when he was done laughing at him jump in to help.� They got those gold fish to the retirement home that day though.

�My grandfather after that always spoke highly of Tony and until the day he died always told the story of what Tony did the first time he came to Tennessee. It's amazing what stupid things someone will do to impress the family of the person he loves.

My Favorite Family Gathering

My parents have been divorced for 16 years.� They have both since remarried.� My dad has been married now for 3 years and my mom had lived with her husband for 13 years before they finally got married.� She lost her husband two months before their one-year anniversary.� Mom and Dad and their spouses have always gotten along.� This has been great for family gatherings for my brother's family and mine.� My favorite gathering was after the Ice Storm hit in January 2002.� Everyone we had called was without electricity except my dad who lives in Kearney.

�My Stepmother and Dad invited all of us to come stay with them for as long as was necessary.� We all invaded them it was Mom, me and my family and my brother's family.� We lived as one happy family under one roof for 3 days.� We had more fun those three days than at any family gathering.� We talked about what it was like when we were kids, when mom and dad were married, the divorce, and the alcoholism that tore them apart.� In those three days we learned more about our family than we actually ever knew before.�

My step-mom knows more about us now than she probably ever wanted to know.� That was a very happy time in my life even though we were going through a stressful event in all our lives' it all seemed right because, we were together as a family.�

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