cloudy
Alabama Slammer
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2004
- Posts
- 37,997
I had an epiphany today, thanks to something someone told me yesterday (thank you, sweets - you know who you are 
)
Bear with me:
Just to give you some background, I was the fourth child of five. My oldest sister moved back in with us when her oldest child was 3 mos. old, so that made six kids in the house, and then my brother's friend got thrown out by his parents, so he moved in with us. Make that 7 kids in the house. I was still third to the youngest, even after all the additions.
I started running track, and qualified for the city team when I was 12. About the same time, my older brother was put into jail for about a year for selling pot, and my father had a crippling, although not lethal, heart attack.
If I had gone missing at some point, I think the only reason it would have been noticed would have been if I'd quit showing up for meals. Granted, it was a chaotic household, to say the least.
I did well at track, although I don't think it was from any innate ability. I would get up two hours early for school, so that I could get three or four miles in then, in addition to practice at school. As a result, I qualified for state finals just about every year, and was invited to compete in the junior olympics twice. Looking back....my mother came to one meet, my father never did.
At 13, in addition to track, I started competing in rodeo. Again, I don't think there was any extraordinary ability involved, simply a horrendous amount of hours on horseback, until my horse and I functioned as one unit....turning barrels so many times, until I could feel the barrel go past my leg, but not actually touch it. I still have scars on the outside of my knees. Again, I did well, qualifying for state finals twice, and finishing third both times. I can't remember my parents ever coming to a show...ever. I would bring the ribbons home, and they would congratulate me, but never came to see me win them. When I left for college, my mother threw them all away, including the High Point trophy they hadn't seen me win.
My epiphany was this: All of that was simply the way for me to scream "look at me!" I know this because once I started college, and moved away from home, my interest in both just fell away. I ran my freshman year in college, but the results were mediocre, at best.
Today I realized that I won't hold the same place in my parents lives that others do (namely, one brother), but you know what? It doesn't matter anymore. How wonderful, to finally get it.
Anyone else every have an "aha!" moment that profoundly changed the way they looked at their lives?
)Bear with me:
Just to give you some background, I was the fourth child of five. My oldest sister moved back in with us when her oldest child was 3 mos. old, so that made six kids in the house, and then my brother's friend got thrown out by his parents, so he moved in with us. Make that 7 kids in the house. I was still third to the youngest, even after all the additions.
I started running track, and qualified for the city team when I was 12. About the same time, my older brother was put into jail for about a year for selling pot, and my father had a crippling, although not lethal, heart attack.
If I had gone missing at some point, I think the only reason it would have been noticed would have been if I'd quit showing up for meals. Granted, it was a chaotic household, to say the least.
I did well at track, although I don't think it was from any innate ability. I would get up two hours early for school, so that I could get three or four miles in then, in addition to practice at school. As a result, I qualified for state finals just about every year, and was invited to compete in the junior olympics twice. Looking back....my mother came to one meet, my father never did.
At 13, in addition to track, I started competing in rodeo. Again, I don't think there was any extraordinary ability involved, simply a horrendous amount of hours on horseback, until my horse and I functioned as one unit....turning barrels so many times, until I could feel the barrel go past my leg, but not actually touch it. I still have scars on the outside of my knees. Again, I did well, qualifying for state finals twice, and finishing third both times. I can't remember my parents ever coming to a show...ever. I would bring the ribbons home, and they would congratulate me, but never came to see me win them. When I left for college, my mother threw them all away, including the High Point trophy they hadn't seen me win.
My epiphany was this: All of that was simply the way for me to scream "look at me!" I know this because once I started college, and moved away from home, my interest in both just fell away. I ran my freshman year in college, but the results were mediocre, at best.
Today I realized that I won't hold the same place in my parents lives that others do (namely, one brother), but you know what? It doesn't matter anymore. How wonderful, to finally get it.
Anyone else every have an "aha!" moment that profoundly changed the way they looked at their lives?
Last edited:
Often daydreamed in grade school.
