Phoenix Rises

Chapter 1 Lighting the Match

My mother, Lucy, was 5 foot tall, hair as black as midnight. Alluring brown eyes and the personality to match. She had moved to the desert town of Roswell, NM. A town that's known for its extraterrestrials and space rockets. A place she believed she would make her new home, with a new set of people that could see her for who she was. A hope that just wouldn't pan out.

"As soon as I can save up enough money, I'll be ready to head home to Ohio," she'd say to herself, regretting her decision to leave her mother's hometown for her first marriage. A biker that I would only ever know by the name of "Redman." My mother was a fun seeking woman who was always looking for love in the wrong places.

Allsups is where my mother worked, a gas station still famous for its burritos and chimichangas. This is where Lucy met my father, Rocky. An appropriate name for the man that he was, 6'2'' and strong as an ox. Despite his stature, Rocky had a soft side, and my mother Lucy brought that out in him from the moment that he first laid eyes on her. It took my father a few visits to Allsups to finally gather the courage to ask my mother out, but eventually he walked into the store, ordered his burrito and nervously mumbled out,

"Hey Lucy, I've been coming in here for awhile and I was just wondering, if you might like to hang out with me after your shift."

It was this simple rambling from a nervous man, that sparked a love story that was as passionate as it was tragic. Rocky and Lucy wouldn't spend a moment away from one another from that day forward. They moved in together right away.

My father was a skilled HVAC tech and didn't mind spending his money on the "Pretty brunette he met down the street," he'd always laugh. Rocky was a jokester that knew how to make others smile, and my mother was a free spirit who found joy in the lighthearted moments he had to offer.

They'd often lay in bed together laughing at the silly nonsense words they'd make up at night. Sometimes driving down the road and intentionally pronouncing all the words on the streets signs backward. A type of humor that only my dear old dad could make truly hilarious. All this excitement meant it would only be a short while before they fell deeply in love and only 3 months more, before the first baby was on the way.

Lucy ran out of the bathroom jumping up and down, "It's positive! We're having a baby! We're having a baby!"

Rocky trying hard to balance his worry and excitement together, tucked his hands in his pockets, looked down at the floor and suggested, "Well, I hope this what you really want Lucy, and if you do, maybe we should get married."

My mother was ecstatic. "Of course that's what I want! I love you!" They were both over the moon, and my father would've given my mother anything she wanted.

Young and in their early 30's, Rocky and Lucy didn't have much money, but what they did have was a dangerous habit lurking behind the newfound excitement of a baby and an engagement. The 1980's southwest had no shortage of meth amphetamine, and my mom and dad partied up every dollar they managed to make at their jobs. A fact not lost on either of their families.

"You know Lucy, it isn't going to work out between you and my brother," my Aunt Rena would say to my mother in a sneering tone as they sat together at my parents wedding reception. Rena was my father's twin sister, and she was not one to mince words. My mother was 8 months pregnant when she married my father, and Rena's unwelcome tone wouldn't land on her easily.

In disbelief Lucy looked over at Rocky and said, "Did you hear that Rocky? Rena said we're not going to work out!" It really wasn't Rena's place to say such a thing, and at such a moment, but history would look on and see that she was not wrong. My mother and fathers' marriage was a disaster in the making. It would only be a blink before the passion would turn to flames and it would all begin to burn.

"Lucy, you really should not be drinking or using that stuff while you're pregnant with our baby," Rocky said feeling defeated. Lucy had become easy to tip into a fit of rage. Being near her at this point in her pregnancy was like walking on eggshells.

My mother responded just as he had expected, "Why do you care? You're still drinking and drugging, but I am supposed to quit now because I'm the one who has to carry the baby?"

With that, my father decided that it was better to leave it be. Surely, fanning the flames of this argument wouldn't do them any good. Just as much as they knew how to love, they had certainly learned how to fight.