Headstrong

Part 1: One of a Kind

I was three when my parents split up, but that still doesn't mean I have ever wondered the, 'would they still be together if Dad would have done this differently...or Mom doing that?' any child that has gone through this before has those thoughts. It never really occurred to me though that I could've been the problem.

I was 'the new kid in town.' Everyone always adores the younger kids in the family. My case was significantly special though because my family had the opportunity to treasure two children at the same time. I was bestowed with a twin sister on the lovely day I was brought into this world. Everyone always wonders what it would be like to have a twin, and I will tell you truthfully. It's as if you had a friend that never ever left your side and as a result you shared EVERYTHING.

Growing up wasn't so bad as a kid. With having a twin, I never actually found myself becoming bored because I always had someone to play with. It was ok sometimes but other times you would want to spend it with the older sister, Nicole. There was an 8 year difference separating Nicole from Lynn and I,which meant that she really was never up for playing Ghostbusters in the backyard with you. It wasn't "cool" or something like that.

I lived with my mother, Ann, just as the rest of us kids. Mom was a single mom trying to provide for 3 children which wasn't always the easiest. Lucky for us all though my Grandma played a big role in our family. When it came for us to start school, she would come over every morning getting us ready for school. Now when I say we lived with our Mom doesn't mean we didn't see our Dad. Dad was the type to just do the bare minimum to begin with. He would only see us around once a month on a random Sunday. We would spend that day sitting on the couch with Trudy, our stepmom. Trudy was nothing special in my eyes. She was always mad about something it seemed and also favored Lynn over me, which I also didn't appreciate. I don't know what set our relationship down the wrong path. She seemed to be very offended when I bit her that one time but she shouldn't have taken it to heart, it was just kinda my thing. It's not that we enjoyed sitting on the couch all day, it was just safer that way. Now at the time I never knew the whole story but I'm well educated on the topic now. As a child, my Dad seemed to be interested in the 'herbal refreshments.' He attempted to quit but he would have withdrawals which caused him to become irritated and eventually abusive. The cases were never bad enough to report and they would never believe a 5 year old at the time. 'Oh she just fell off the swing set' or 'I told her not to run down the stairs' where the most common excuses for some of the random bruising. It didn't last long, he eventually just decided to continue to smoke but till this day he didn't know that I knew. I only know that he did cause I saw his hitter one time.

School was typically always relatively easy for me. I was able to catch on quick where it benefitted me in the future. Everyone was always so shocked when Lynn and I didn't have the same learning style/pace. They always assumed just because we were twins that meant that we were essentially the same person, which is obviously not how it works. I worked so hard in school to be the farthest away from my sister as I could. It's not that I didn't like her or anything, I was just tired of being compared to her. I wouldn't to be my own person for once and school was the one place where they could actually happen. Everything was going good in school too. Kindergarten was a cake walk while 1st and 2nd grade was a breeze. I learned my basic multiplication tables in 3rd along with other basic math skills. Then 4th grade brought in my interests for subjects like science and even English. That 4th grade year though took a wild turn of events though during that summer. Life was good and things were perfect if I knew what that was. Then with the flip of a switch, I went down a completely different path.