Chapter 3: A Normal Life

• GRACE FOR KATHLEEN • • 1. Childhood Bliss • • 2. The Breakdown • • 3. A Normal Life • • 4. The Plumbing Days • • 5. Illness Returns • • 6. Samoa • • 7. Under Attack • • 8. A Calm in the Storm • • 9. Another World • • 10. Moving Forward • • 11. Closing Words • • 12. The Awakening: The Reality of Mental Illness • • POETRY •



First day for me to be back at school I made friends with 2 guys and a girl we all sat at the same table after a few warning from the teacher to stop talking we all got kicked out of class, we found ourselves around the corner in the parking lot getting stoned and laughing a lot, school days ahead were a daily routine of going to school going to a couple of classes only to spend the rest of the day drinking beer and getting stoned. One day as my friend was taking a hit of pot the principle walked right up to him my friend just looked at him and said you want to hit this? We all got suspended and that's how the year seemed to be partying and getting caught. After awhile this habit got old to me and I had no interest in school so at the age of 17 I dropped out. Life now was being a bum at home waiting for the weekends to party. One day I picked up a pencil got a piece of paper and wrote my first poem " The Most Important Person" I liked it and was feeling good about myself, I spent my time keeping out of trouble but that didn't last for long. One night me and a couple of friends were hitch hiking a truck pulled over we got in the back and he started going really fast swerving all across the road back and forth we were all over the place terrified he lost control of the truck and it flipped over, I woke up in the hospital my left hand was crushed I had road rash cuts and bruises everywhere, my other 2 friends got cuts and bruises but they were all right, me and my girlfriend spent a week in bed with my mother taking care of us, I had to have surgery on my hand after surgery it got infected so I spent awhile in and out of the hospital till my hand was healed. My uncle the lawyer managed to get me twenty thousand dollars about 8 months later. The first place I asked my mom to take me to was the water bed store I never had a descent bed most of my life and I picked out a king sized beautiful waterbed with a big mirror in the middle bookshelves on the side I was a happy camper. I called my family in Tennessee who I hadn't seen in years and asked if I could come out for a visit they said sure come on out so I hopped on a plane and spent a few fun weeks on a farm it was a good experience and I loved it out there everything was cheap so I went on a shopping spree for cloth it was May so it was nice and hot the way I like it, I got home and it wasn't to long before my girlfriend told me I had to look at this car her mothers friend was selling so I went and took a look at it very nice and pleasing to the eyes was a red trans am with a 400 in it I took it for a test drive the lady brought me to the bottom of a very steep hill she told me to floor it and the car flew up the hill so fast I was sold. Summer was here and I drove around in high style it was fun. One day I left a note on the refrigerator Mom went to the zoo! Be home soon me and my girlfriend drove to the airport with plenty of cash on hand and flew to San Diego got a motel and went to the zoo, we also took a trip to Mexico for the day I went deep-sea fishing I had a blast. The only nice thing I did for my mother was had the house painted. One night I was out partying and met a cutie pie we went to my house I got a sleeping blanket and laid on the lawn starring at the stars we talked all night. After partying with him for awhile one day I got bored I said lets go find a motorbike we went to the local Honda dealership and I bought a 650 Honda Nighthawk we had a blast going everywhere and only dumped it once but we survived, one day he asked if I wanted to drive to Oregon to visit his sister I said sure so we took my car and off we went it wasn't long before we got in a big fight I dumped his cloths and headed home alone. Once at home I took my bike out crazing one night went to the local dumps were people park and party met a guy took him for a ride. We ended up at his house making out and having a good time we started going out partying together and having a good time, meanwhile my friend I left in Oregon came to my door somehow managed to talk me into letting him take the bike out for a ride and I let him never seen him or the bike again, I remained together with Todd one day he said he was getting kicked out of his house and had to find a room to rent, I begged my mom to let him live with us he could pay rent and help with the bills, after a while she gave in and I had a live-in Boyfriend I was 19. Time went by I got a job working at my mothers work at the pet hospital greeting clients getting charts ready keeping the place clean helping the doctors with the animals all kinds of stuff it kept me happy, but the happiest day came when a litter of Chow chow puppies rolled in the office for their first shots, I fell in love with them all! I found out they were for sale and bought one when he was 8 weeks old named him sinbad my first puppy dog, tune went by I was happy had a boyfriend had a dog had a job all was going good after a couple years Todd told me Tie was seeing his ex-girlfriend and that he loved her, I was crushed and he was gone. The summer of 1986 was upon me I applied for a job as a camp counselor at the same camp I went to as a kid Camp Konocti got the job quit my job at the pet hospital and had the funniest summer of my life, hot weather swimming skiing sailing canoeing, singing around a campfire different events every night the kids were great 8 weeks of pure joy. When summer ended I started going to Cosmetology school made lots of friends became class President had a blast. Then I got a phone call from Todd he wanted to see me and like the sucker I am seen him and he was back in my life I went to school then went back to camp as head counselor in the summer had another wonderful summer. Finished my 1600 hours in 1988 got my license went back to camp for my third summer, when the summer was almost over I found out I was pregnant. I was a happy pregnant woman when I was about 6 months pregnant got my first salon job in Pacifica worked a couple weeks was told I was doing a great job, one day I told my boss I was pregnant she said O I thought you were just a big woman a little time went by and she says to me you know what were really slow right now and I am going to have to let you go, my first taste of discrimination. I had no choice but to get state medical Insurance I had a great pregnancy till my water broke 2 days of labor induced labor then had a C-section on my mothers birthday March 12th 1989 I gave birth to my Daughter weighing over nine pounds she was a beauty with blond tipped hair and blue eyes Candace and Carol after my mom. While I was pregnant I got my G.E.D. so I at least accomplished something. When;;; Candace was 6 months old I had her Baptized and had a big family party at my uncles cabin up Russian River I was a new person with my daughter nothing was important but her, for some reason Todd never grew out of partying like I did and he was really being a ass not coming home on weekends always broke, he seemed to do nothing but piss me off, I took a couple of tests to try to get in the same plumbing union my dad was in I was put on a waiting list, I then found a job as a truck driver for a plumbing company I worked for almost a year and my back went out I really pulled a number on it and started living off of workman's comp I enjoyed being home with Candace. February of 1991 I had my last straw with Todd and told him to leave I was really threw with this man, soon after he left I got a phone call from the union my name came up on the list I was to start school as soon as possible it was only a couple weeks of being at school I was called to my first job.