How We Met

Chapter One:

I was born August 11th 1981. My mother left me when I was only one hour old. She didn't like me. 

The reason was quite complicated to explain but easy enough to understand. 

My mother and father met in 1977 when my older brothers (Leo and Adam) were adopted. My dad already had his two girls (Idina and Cara) but he wanted a biological child of his own. 

My dad didn't know that my mother already had a husband when they got together. It was only when my mother found out she was pregnant with me. 

My mother already had six children, six boys, but wanted her own child, a daughter, so when I came along she was jealous because she'd been trying for a daughter with her husband since 1970 but only produced six boys so when my dad came along, my mum hated me. 

My dad made a deal with my mother as she didn't want me due to me not being my mum's husband's daughter. 

My father said 'If you do not want her, keep her alive so that I can raise her. I want to have the gift of being a father. Please keep our daughter.'

She did what he wanted. She kept me alive but only just. My mother drunk and smoke when she was pregnant with me. She hated being pregnant with me.

I was born prematurely. My due date was supposed to be 11th November 1981 (Leo's 7th birthday) but I was born 11th August 1981 instead.

At first it was my sisters that wanted me around and not my brothers. 

Idina and Cara loved it when I first came home but Adam and Leo, not so much. 

I actually came home for the first time on Leo's birthday (11th November) but as an adult, he says it was the best present anyone ever gave him. 

As my first year progressed, I grew bigger and bigger like any normal newborn. 

I grew older and older and older but when I was three years old, I was diagnosed with autism. My dad nor my siblings understood but as time when on, they understood the best way to deal with me. 

I got older and taller, and so did my siblings. 

Eventually, it was the boys that I was hanging around with more and less with the girls. Even though dad made me dress up in my dresses when we went out and played. 

As a six-year-old, dad got a horse for the whole family (apart from Adam as he was miles above everyone else in height and weight). Her name was Queen and she would eventually become the grandmother to my favourite horse, King. 

When we got Queen, my dad noticed that she wasn't acting like a normal horse so he called the equine vet out as dad started to get worried about her. When they came here, they gave us shocking news. Queen was pregnant and was in labour and was having a foul.

With Queen having her foul, we were unable to ride her while she was nursing. 

We were unable to ride Queen for two and a half years. By the time she finished nursing, she had to get a new saddle and girth as she had outgrown her last one. 

Luckily for us, dad taught us all how to ride bareback and it was fun. 

During a bareback trot, Queen got spooked and cantered. It was my first canter on her and luckily, I didn't fall off as she kept on riding in a straight line. It was an intense time and it felt forever but eventually, it stopped. 

Queen's daughter (Aurora) grew to be a fine and beautiful mare. 

Queen and Aurora were shire horses (a large ride able horse not used in horse racing). They weren't very fast during a canter/gallop but they made me happy during bareback and saddle ride. They were huge and my favourite breed of horse.