Okay. Where to begin? I guess at the beginning, right?
My parents didn't have a "great love story". In fact, they met in the Army while stationed in Alabama. My Dad was engaged to someone else when he met Mom. And that should have been her first clue.
Anyway, they met and married in a time period of about six months. They lived by Mom's family in Austin, Minnesota (SPAM capital of the world...for anyone interested) for a bit before settling in Louisiana. Mom wanted to have children very badly, but after a few miscarriages and was told she couldn't have a child.
They eventually built their own house a couple of houses down from my Dad's parents. Things were great (kinda) for them for about 4 years after moving into the house...until Mom's Dad died in August of 1977. He had a massive coronary heart attack in the middle of the night. Mom was, and still is, devestated by the loss of her Dad at a relatively young age (56, I believe). 6 months later, in February of 1978 Mom found out she was pregnant. This time, it stuck...the doctors were pretty well shocked.
On November 25th of '78, I was born. Shortly after that, Dad started cheating on Mom with one of Mom's best friends. This lasted for a few years. I can remember Mom and I sitting in the front room one night and it had these HUGE windows. Dad wasn't home...no idea where he was. Probably a bar. Anyway...so we're sitting there and the woman he was cheating with Mom on pulls into our driveway...and she was plastered. I was about 3 years old...but knew enough....I started screaming out the window for her to go away and leave us alone. She started shooting at our house. Luckily, she was so drunk that she only hit the driveway. Dad stopped screwing with her promptly after that.
Not even a year later, he started cheating on Mom with a woman he worked with. This one lasted NINE years. NINE. Mom wouldn't divorce him because of me. I knew what was going on. Dad just didn't come home at night. I'd go three, four weeks without seeing him because he was living with the other womans family. Took them on vacations, etc... Meanwhile, Mom and I struggled to make it paycheck to paycheck.
When I was 13, Mom FINALLY divorced him. FINALLY. I didn't see or really talk to my Dad for about 6 months. He was living with Bea, who was his girlfriend at the time. Finally, a year or a bit more after the divorce, I started going to stay with him. Bea and I clashed IMMEDIATELY. We found out later in life it was because of things Dad was telling each of us.
My life to this point had been...interesting. Not good interesting or bad interesting...just interesting. Our neighbor/family member had ruined a good portion of my childhood and that's something that I have nightmares about to this day. I had a couple of close friends in school...but I was the kid that got made fun of, for the most part. I tried to let it roll off my back...but I can remember crying myself to sleep at night frequently. My cousin Mervin was my BEST friend when I was little. We did EVERYTHING together. We were such nerds. lol We'd play Star Trek or Star Wars on my Grandparents swing on the front porch...or we'd play kickball ("GHOST MAN ON FIRST!")...or Spoons...or HORSE.
My high school experience was okay. I had a group of about 4 friends that I hung out with constantly. We were the group that wasn't cool, but wasn't UNcool...so we were just invisible, I guess. And I actually preferred that. Relationships weren't something I was obsessed with as a teenager. Mainly because...well, I had NO desire to date anyone from my hometown. Ugh.
After I went to college I met a guy that I thought was IT. He was just...wow. I got closer to a "relationship" with him than I had to this point. Then, turns out, because I was scared to tell him I liked him...he started dating someone else. And I got rejected. :(
I moved away from Louisiana soon after that and moved to Florida. Lived in Orlando for one year, West Palm for one year and then moved back to Orlando. I met the SECOND guy that I came CLOSE to a relationship with then. Well, there were reasons it couldn't ever be a relationship. And that's not something I'm going to discuss. Regardless, he stomped on my heart.
Moved back to Louisiana in 2004...good thing too. On February 8th of 2005, my cousin Mervin committed suicide. Destroyed me. On April 1st of 2005 my Paw Paw died of cancer. Destroyed me more. And finally, in December, my Stepmother, Bea lost her two year fight with breast cancer. I still haven't recovered from that one.
In September of 2006 I moved to Nashville, TN. It's been an interesting few years here. I've made some awesome friends. And I have some people I couldn't live without. And I'm thankful for it all. Still haven't had a relationship though. Yep, that's right...I'll be 31 in November and I've never so much as had a boyfriend. And in case you're nosy enough to wonder...yes, this means I'm still "pure". Have a ring on my left hand to prove it, actually. Never saw the point in losing that to a random guy. Not my style.
So, that's my life to date. Now that you're caught up...the blog should be a cake walk. ;)
And for fun...a sampling of 20 songs on my IPOD:
1. Dead Flowers - Miranda Lambert (just saw her in concert)
2. From The Damage - O-Town (such memories from Florida)
3. Should've Said No - Taylor Swift
4. With You Gone - Ryan Cabrera
5. Your Eyes - Alexz Johnson
6. Kerosene - Miranda Lambert
7. Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen
8. Crazy In Love - Beyonce
9. One Man Show - Jonas Brothers
10. You Make Me Sick - Pink
11. Losing A Whole Year - Third Eye Blind
12. Call It A Day - The Raconteurs
13. Black Keys - Jonas Brothers
14. Salute Your Solution - The Raconteurs
15. Overrated - Gavin Degraw
16. Only Prettier - Miranda Lambert ("Well I've been saved by the grace of southern charm...I got a mouth like a sailor and yours is more like a hallmark card. If you wanna pick a fight, well I'm gonna have to say goodnight. I don't have to be hateful, I can just say 'bless your heart'.")
17. Gravity - Shawn McDonald
18. Catch My Breath - Donnie Klang
19. Whiskey Callin - Jacob's Loc
20. Crush - Mandy Moore ;)
