The Chapters of My Life- Ch 1 & 2

                                                      Chapter 1
         
         Have you ever asked someone about themselves or their life and they reply "Oh, it’s not really that interesting" or "I don't really have a life"?  I, too, say that but others think otherwise and they wish that I would tell my story so that it may be helpful or inspirational for others.

         I think that since this is chapter one of my life I should start at when my life started, or a little bit before.

         My mother was at a birthday party for her father, the day before Father's Day. She was asked what she would like to eat by her mother since she was having trouble walking- a little like a duck- as it was later on in her pregnancy. She hardly ate anything and even refused to eat the delicious strawberry cheesecake- her favorite! Then she told her mom that she wanted to go for a walk! The place was in the country so the only place she could walk was through the beginnings of a cornfield or a gravel road, and she could not hardly walk as it was! After she left, everyone from her mother to each of her fifteen siblings all said, it's going to be time.

         Luckily one of her brothers, Tim the sneaky one, decided to follow right behind her. If he hadn't she would have literally gave birth to me in a cornfield! Wouldn't that be interesting if someone would ask me now if I was born in a barn? If that would have happened I would have been able to reply, "Well pretty close to one." It would be great to see the look on their faces then... hehe.

         Her brother helped get her back to the house and then everyone rushed her to the hospital. I was born on June 17th, 1989 at a hospital in Kalamazoo, MI at 8:43 am, the day after the party. Does that mean I can tell people that I was born in a zoo? Hmm. What was really surprising to everyone was that I was alive. I had been born six weeks early and was four pounds two ounces and seventeen inches long. What was most remarkable about me living was not that I was born early, or that it was on Father's Day, but how I was medically.

         I was born with sleep apnea, asthma, allergies, flat feet, bad back, and on top of it all minor autism! - which I'll talk about later on in my "life". My lungs and brain had not been fully developed the way they should have been. I had to be incubated for about a week before my mother was allowed to take me home and when she was able to I had to hooked up to something like a respirator that would alert her when I quite breathing, and if it went of she had to lightly shake me to wake me up enough to start breathing again. At least that didn't give me any more brain damage! Well not that I know of...

         Let's just say my life as a baby was a little tough but would only get tougher. Another fact about me when I was born was that there had been no clothes small enough to fit me -I could fit in the palm of people's hands- and my mom was not the greatest at sewing so guess what I had to wear! Cabbage Patch Doll clothes! The clothes for those small baby dolls at the time really looked old-fashioned and provided only dresses for girls. Maybe that's why I don't really wear dresses these days....

         That was the start of my "great" life...



                                                      Chapter 2

         Now I am a year years old and have blue eyes and blond hair .  I am waiting at my grandmother’s house for my dad to come pick me up because my mom had gone to work .  I was spending my time playing with my little tiger stuffed animal .  He was a little tattered and dirty but that is because I loved him and played with him a lot . 

         About an hour after my mom had left my dad had finally come but he had a strange look on his face .  He picked me up , said goodbye to my grandmother , and took me outside to the waiting silver car .  He put me in my car seat then he got in the car himself .  He started it up and then backed out of the driveway.  I could tell something was wrong with this.  We were moving past things that I did not remember ever seeing before and my dad seemed all tensed up.  I wanted to ask what was wrong but did not know how. 
         
         Well the good thing about this was that it was a nice day outside.  The sun was shinning through the windows warming my skin and he had his window down a little which provided a gentle breeze.  This felt so good and with the vibrations of the car and soft music playing on the radio I was able to fall asleep.
         
         I don’t know how long I had been asleep but when I woke up my stomach hurt.  I was hungry and had to use to go real bad.  I cried hoping to get some attention.  He looked in the mirror at me.  His had a thin profile, tan skin, blue eyes, and brown hair.  Yeah, I was going to get attention!  Then an angry look was on his face and he just cranked up the radio and told me to shut up.  I was too shocked and did, for a moment, but my stomach was really hurting.  Why wouldn’t he give me some food or stop somewhere?  Instead we were still flying past trees and fields with no sign of me getting any help…
         
         Five minutes later I though “Could this get any worse?”  Oops, I guess so.  At least  I still was able to were pull-ups.  It saved my car seat, but now I had to sit in it!  Can this day ever get better?  Now I have a dirty diaper and still no food!!!  After trying crying again to no prevail, I decided to just fall asleep.  It was hard to do but at least I couldn’t feel hunger in my sleep. 
         
         The next time I woke up he still was driving and did not seem to ever want to stop.  Still with no luck at getting aide, I once again had nothing better to do but dream of a clean diaper and a full stomach.  When I woke up again it was dark out and I still did not know where we were.  All I knew was that I wasn’t home and somehow I knew that we were far away from it.

                                                      **********
         Back at my grandmother’s, my mom arrived knocking at her door.  When my grandma answered my mom said , “I’m here to pick Lauren up.  Sorry I’m late tonight,” she apologized.  My grandmother’s already gray hair seemed to get grayer and her wrinkles even deeper.  My grandma answered, “Robert was here and picked her up already,” she said shakily. 
         
         “What?  I just tried calling him at the apartment and work.  I couldn’t reach him at either and his boss said that he never showed up…”  Now they both looked worried and confused.  “What are you thinking,” my grandma asked. 
         
         “I don’t know,” replied mom, when she suddenly got a thought.  She quickly turned around and on her way hurrying to the car she shouting back, “I’ll call you when I get there!”  She hoped in here car and spun out of the driveway leaving my grandma stunned wondering, “Get where?”  She decided to go back inside and sat in her rocking chair knitting worriedly about what was happening.

                                                      **********
         Finally the car stopped!  Help is on its way! It took long enough…  It was still nighttime, but the stars lit the surroundings.  We had arrived at a house that looked to be small and white.  My dad got out and went to its door and knocked.  I was left confused as I saw him talking to an old lady that looked like my grandma.  But this one was a little taller and skinnier.  Finally I watched her nod, looking a little upset, and she came and got me out of my car seat and he went inside.  Who is this strange lady and this strange place?
         
         She got me inside and started yelling at him.  “How dare you bring my young grandchild all the way to Wisconsin and not even with diapers and  food!  Your lucky I have other grandchildren and have a few things!  You never think when you do something like this!  You are foolish.  How can I even think of you as a good son?!” On and on she yelled at him but I was too hungry, and felt literally too crappy, to even care. 
         
         I just watched as she carried me around this strange place that seemed to be where she lived.  Did she call me her grandchild?  That’s confusing…  We went to the kitchen were she got out a jar of some tan looking stuff and another with some orange stuff and then she got a spoon and filled a bottle with milk.  Yea I’m gonna get food!  Before I got that though, she took me into another room that was like my baby room at home.  Then she sat me down and a table, cleaned me up, and gave me a fresh pull-up.  Ahhh, that feels good.  Then we went to the living room with the food and she sat me on her lap as she fed me.  Finally after a clean bottom and a fully stomach I was content and sleepy once again. 
         
         With one last thought of what a strange day it had been, I once again fell asleep.

                                                      **********
         I finally woke up to see sunlight streaming through the window.  Once again I was hungry but something felt strange.  I lay in a crib that wasn’t mine, in a room not mine, and I realize that this isn’t home and I cry.  In came the strange women wearing an Indian style dress and a sincere smile on her face with blue eyes dancing. 
         
         “You’re finally awake sleepy head!  Let me change your diaper and then we’ll get something in your tummy.  How does that sound,” she asked and then answered herself as if I spoke and said, “Good.”  We then set out on this adventure of cleaning and eating.  Soon I was content and could just sit down and play with some toys that she gave me in the living room.  I missed my tiger but knew that he was gone.  This made me sad but after so much change I couldn’t get myself to cry anymore.
         
         Soon there was a knock on the door, thinking it didn’t concern me I didn’t even care to look.  The lady went to open the door.  Soon a loud voice entered the room.  “Where is she?! Where is Lauren?!”  The lady tried to quite her but to no prevail.  Mom!  It was my mom!  I tried to walk as fast as my waddle would let me while saying, “Mama, mama!”  Soon I arrived at the door where she quickly lifted me and hugged me tight as to never lose me.  She started to cry into my hair and she let the lady lead her to the couch to sit down.  Mom’s hair was messy and she was still wearing the clothes that she had gone to work in- a blue t-shirt and blue jeans for they were easy to clean in. 
         
         Once she was settled, the lady gave her some coffee and breakfast.  Then after a fully stomach, some rest, and a little bit of play time together my dad came back from wherever he had been.  This is when she started yelling again and he yelled back in a sound war.  The lady, who turned out to be my Cherokee grandmother on my dad’s side, took me back to the baby room to finish playing in a somewhat quiet atmosphere.  I could still here them yelling, calling each other names, saying each other were unfit parents, drunks, alcoholics, irresponsible, and my mom kept saying how she felt betrayed.  After a couple hours all was quiet.  They did make up. 
         
         After a few weeks -and many fights- we found a different home, some stuff like toys, and stayed in Wisconsin.  My mom before coming after us did stop back at the apartment and grabbed all the necessities like clothes, food, and don’t forget she remembered my tiger from grandma‘s!
         
         But all did not end well there.  Soon they figured out after even more fights that they did not love each other enough and decided to split.  He found another wife and moved out and I stayed with my mom and custody and divorce battles ensued.