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MY PARENTS

RUTH

RUSSELL

TIM

RANDY

ROLLY

PAM

SANDE

Well, if you made it this far I suppose you want to know about me. I could write for pages and pages but I will leave that in my memoirs. For now I will just recap my life.

I am the youngest of eight live born children, spoiled rotten and I know my siblings will agree with that. I looked up to my sister Pam and to the others as well. I grew up calling my parents Grandma and Grandpa more often than not. It was probably because I was an aunt before I was born and I spent a lot of time with my nieces and nephews.

We had a small bit of land in Michigan, in Monroe County, where life was simple and we could roam the woods across the road or trudge up and down the creeks, always looking for hidden treasures. I can remember finding authentic Indian arrow heads in the creek bed.

When I was 13, on my 13th birthday to be exact, we moved from our country home to a mobile home park in Ohio. I can remember the sadness I had about leaving all my friends behind. And no one gave me a going away party. I had a large religious community around me and they always gave parties so I figured I'd get one, but it never happened. I was really disappointed. Of course, knowing that I was a brat I think I know why no one was going to miss me. One of my best friends, Barb, lived down the road from me and her mom always called us "brats" in a joking manner but I was the real deal.

So, after I was 13 and we lived in Ohio in that trailer park, I let my old friends from Michigan slide into oblivion and I made new friends. The first day of school, though, was culture shock for me because I had been going to a school that was 99.9% white and the one I moved into was ver well mixed. On top of that, the school I had come from had strict dress codes and the new one had very lax ones. I was used to wearing dresses to school and the girls there wore pants, plus the kids used language that my virgin ears had never heard before. One person called me a derogatory name because I didn't answer him. Oh well, life goes on. It didn't take long, though, til I was acting like the rest of them and I rolled my skirt up when I got to school to wear a shorter one than my parents would ever allow! I mostly started wearing pants, though. I graduated in 1976, during our country's bicentennial. Then life got complicated....

In 1978 I moved out of my parents' house and went off to California to live with my eldest brother. I learned more of the ways of the world then, trying different drugs and just letting it all hang out, so to speak. In 1979 I moved back to Ohio, and worked as a barmaid dressed in a toga. Very interesting who you meet that way. I remember that some famous golfer came in one night, can't remember who now, and everyone got all excited but I got to wait on him. He wasn't a very good tipper though.

Anyway, that summer changed my life forever. I found myself pregnant and my boyfriend, who had been living with me, walked out as soon as the pregnancy test came back positive. So, I was stuck on my own and had to decide if I wanted to have this baby or raise it alone. I was against abortions at that time (don't know if I could have done it anyway) so I looked at adoption for a solution. A family member wanted me to give the baby to her as she had been trying to have a baby but was unsuccessful. At the beginning of my pregnancy I moved to South Dakota and lived with my brother Tim and his family. They were very supportive of me and whatever decision I made. Doni was suppose to be my lamaze coach but I had Josh early, after they life-flighted me to the Univ of Minnesota hospital. I had pre-eclampsia and my blood pressure was very high. My doctor was concerned about me and he put me in the hospital. Joshua was born 5 weeks premature and he weighed in at 3 lbs, 11 ounces. He was born on March 12, 1980. As you can see from his photo he grew up pretty well. He has been my pride and joy. Joshua, as he prefers, although I like Josh, has shown to be a responsible adult. He was in the Army for a while, and stationed in So Korea on the DMZ. Army life wasn't for him, though, and he came home when discharged and still lives at home. I don't mind, but I am sure at 27 he is looking for a way to move out. It's hard these days for kids to afford a place on their own.

In 1983 I moved to Colorado to be closer to his dad, who wanted to be part of his life. I only stayed there for a few months though. I foudn myself pregnant...again...and not married. This time the father didn't bother to tell me he was married. He offered the money for an abortion but I couldn't take it. So, my brother Randy and sis-in-law Cathy suggested I return to the MI/OH area. I stayed with them for about 6 weeks til I found a place for us to live. Unbenownst to me it was badly infested with cockroaches. We only lived there for about 4 months until I found a better place (or so I thought...it had mice). On May 25, 1984 I gave birth to Andy. He was suppose to be Kyle Andrew but my sis-in-law Cathy convinced me to name him Andrew. Ok, so I did and Andy thanks me to this day for not naming him Kyle. It all works out for the best. Of course I chose a different middle name for him. I was watching some show on TV and there was an actor named Andrew Stevens on there and I thought that sounded good, so Andy became Andrew Stephen. Now, Andy is all grown up as well, and he got married in July of 2005. Falin is a wonderful young lady who I am proud to call my daughter (I don't use the term in-law for her...she deserves more). Andy and Falin are both in college and live here with me as well. Falin wants to be a lawyer so she has a long time to go in school yet. They can live here as long as they need to.

When the boys were 7 and 3 I met a nice guy who I thought would make me happy, but soon after we got married things turned sour pretty fast. I left him 16 months after we married and went back to Colorado. From there we bounced around a lot. I am pretty nomadic in spirit I found it hard to settle down in one place, but in December of 2005 I bought a mobile home...in Oregon. This is where I am writing and creating these webpages. I am happy, and healthy. Life is good.