TO HAYDEN FROM BELLA

Catherine

Catherine Regina Oakley. 48 year old single mother of 1.

Twenty seven years ago Catherine was a typical 18 year old living with her parents and 4 siblings; two brothers and two sisters. Catherine's mother, Elizabeth was a strict teacher and perfectionist. She was a person of elegance and etiquette. Her father, Eugene was a musician in the army. He specialized in the saxophone and was associated with the most famous bands in the country.

Catherine was a rebellious child at that age. She was just like any teenager wanting freedom. She worked as a journalist and a writer but that didn't debar her from her regular Saturday night disco dancing. Catherine and Elizabeth rarely agreed. Mainly because of the huge contrast in personalities. Elizabeth tried forcing her daughter to wear dresses and attend church on Sundays but Catherine opposed. Not that she wasn't religious, but she wanted to be an independent woman having her own identity.

Within her personality, she had Intermittent explosive disorder (IED), a behavioral disorder characterized by explosive outbursts of  and violence, often to the point of rage, that are disproportionate to the situation at hand (e.g., impulsive screaming triggered by relatively inconsequential events). Nobody's perfect and besides her life mistakes, this was her natural flaw which seemed so uncontrollable to her.

Catherine and her father had an inseverable bond. They understood each other clearly but he was barely ever home so she lacked the proper guidance from him.

On September 14th 1984, Catherine got into a motorcycle accident, fracturing her left femur and had an open reduction and internal fixationsurgery to repair the bone. In these types of surgeries, the surgeon will make a cut to open the fracture. Special metal devices called internal fixators were put in place to hold her bones in place while they healed. There was also a plate next to her bone which was attached by screws.

Well Catherine was a stubborn girl. Not even that could of stopped her free spirit. She solved her problems by masking the pain with alcohol. Maybe the alcohol tasted better than tears? These habits turned into addictions.

At the age of 26, Catherine spent days in the hospital laying on a bed with an almost useless liver inside of her. It was not until that day Catherine realized she was dying and there wasn't anyone to blame for it anymore. She was an arrogant lady who couldn't stop no matter what she tried.

Throughout all this, her father Eugene's best friend, Bryce realized what was happening to Catherine. He pitied her and tried to help turn her life around. After years of trying to convince her to change her lifestyle nothing worked. It was then decided between them that a child would save her life. This was pretty tough as Catherine was further rejected from the family because she was having a child for her fathers best friend. Funny thing, everyone in her family did not support her except for her father who you would have expected to be most offended. People will be people.

A few months before the child was born, Eugene fell ill and passed away due to a massive heart attack. This took a big toll on Catherine considering she lost the only family she had left. Dealing with this was tough but she managed to get over it to welcome the new closest thing to her heart, her own daughter.

When the baby was born, it indeed changed Catherine's lifestyle. She stopped all Alcohol and drug use. She even stopped the use of cigarettes for the safety of the baby. It was then Catherine dedicated her child to God. She named her 'Bella' which meant beautiful and devoted to God. Believe it or not, Catherine had to raise this child on her own. Her family was still not supportive and Bryce was only there to donate the child. He had six other kids of his own and two ex-wives. Of course Catherine was upset because he was never around. Despite all this, Catherine grew her child up to the best of her ability. She knew nothing about parenting and how to manage a child.

Catherine loved Bella, she just didn't know how to deal with certain situations. She didn't want Bella to go through what she had to and with her uncontrollable anger, growing this child was extremely hard. Catherine was losing her mind. She never had her own mother's best interest at heart. What could she do?

The relationship between Catherine and Bella was not the best but it wasn't the worst. Until one day Bella came home surrounded by the aura of love. Catherine thought she was losing her child and she wanted to stop it.