I was born on Febraury 11, 1988 in louisville, KY at University Hospital. I weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. It was snowing that day and my mom has always called me the snow angel baby. I was born healthy and full of life and my parents took me home to our 2 bedroom, 1 bath trailer in a trailer park on Dixie Hwy in Kentucky. I was a daddy's girl by all means as I'm sure a lot of little girls are. My dad and I used to eat chocolate doughnuts together while watching Cops and sharing them with our cat Nikki. We'd bake cakes together but my dad couldn't cook and still can't...shhh, don't tell him I said that heehee. My mom and I were close as well but not as close as my dad and I were and still are.
This is me around 2 years old, everyone called me Shirley Temple!
My brother was born when I was 3 and a half years old so we moved into a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house down the road from the trailer we still resided in. The house was white with black shutters, with a garage and a huge backyard. I have many great memories at that house which include, riding my brothers truck into the fireplace and busting my head open, playing on the swing set with my brother and pulling his pants down as he went down the slide, chasing our dog around the backyard and running head first into the fence....yep, I was a holey terrior when I was little. We had two great pets when we were younger, Charlie and Daisy. Charlie was a stray German Shephard dog we found in our neighborhood and we had her up until I was 14 years old, she was the best dog ever and would go to our lake house with us and ride on our pontoon boat or swim with us. I miss her dearly to this day. Daisy was our Calico cat that was the offspring of another cat we had. I had her from the day I was born until I was 15 years old. She'd follow me everywhere and would always sleep with me, I miss her as well.Around the age of 4 years old my dad started abusing my mom. I witnessed many punches, slaps, throws and many other things not needing to be mentioned here. My mom suffered broken ribs, bruises and many other injuries. So one day my mom got up enough guts and took my brother and I and we moved to Charlestown, IN when I was turning 4 and a half years old and my brother was 2 years old. My mom got custody of us and we visited our dad off and on and he was in and out of our lives for years.
Here's where the medical part of things and the reason I'm starting this blog come in....When I was a baby I'd spit up formula no matter what kind was given to me and no one could figure it out. By the age of 4 I was getting sicker, I'd throw up several times a week and go right back to playing like nothing was wrong and then throw up again not long after. This cycle continued for months until my mom took me to the doctor and had tons of tests run. I was diagnosed with 6 stomach ulcers, peptic acid disease and reflex. I was put on meds and thought things were fine but the problems continued. Through the years I was in Kosair Childrens Hospital 6 times, University about 5, tons of ER visits, Wellstone behavior unit once and Nortons behavior unit once because they thought it was in my head since all the tests kept coming up with nothing. I missed tons of school over the years of my educations and almost got my mom in trouble several times because I missed so much. I didn't get to graduate with friends and I graduated a year late, I've lost several jobs and around 16 years old I started doing better but now the problems continue, this time much worse. More on this later....
This is me summer 2010
At the age of 11 my mom bought our first house in the country! It was a small 3 bedroom farmhouse from the 1950's with a garage and 2.76 acres! I fell in love with horses around this time and I began taking riding lessons down by our grandparents lake home in Leitchfield, KY and I was forever hooked on horses. I helped our neighbors with their horses every chance I got and I learn to ride and drive Belgians. In 2001 I started volunteering at a local horse rescue only a mile down the road from me and I worked with everything from beaten and starved horses to a wild Mustang straight off the range from Nevada and then in 2004 I purchased my first horse for $500. He was a 20 something year old Appaloosa and the best friend I ever had! He taught me a lot about myself and life and taught me that yes, horses can have attitudes. I had many great rides on him through the woods, corn fields and on the roads. Buck took care of me and we were great partners until he died on January 1st, 2008.
But I soon found, well noticed a horse I hadn't noticed before at the rescue named Jarhead and we become close. I named him Sarge and I honestly believe he chose me as he never wanted anything to do with humans before that and he had began standing over me after I lost Buck and I'd be crying at the pond. I adopted him for $400 on November 12, 2008. We've had many ups and downs over the 2 years I've owned him from him being so hyper and me crying because I thought I couldn't handle him at first to him bucking me off and destroying my right knee and then that leading to an entire host of medical problems. To our fights when he wanted to do one thing and I wanted him to do another and everything in between. We've now come to an understanding and he respects me, looks to me for answers and doesn't think he's the big bad tough half Thoroughbred that can overpower me anymore though at times he still tests me. He's become my best friend and lifelong partner and the one I hug when I need a hug and no judgement. We are so close now that he can tell what I'm going to do before I do it and I can tell what he's going to do before he does it. Sarge has this way of making me smile even on my worst days, he knows when to goof off and mess with me with his silly tricks and he knows when I just need him to behave and give me a hug. I can lay in the hay with him and fall asleep and he never moves until I do. We know each other in and out, it still amazes me sometimes.
Sarge, my Appendix Quarter Horse showing off can't ya tell?
In July 2009 I moved Sarge to our new house in a new neighborhood on only a half acre, he's now in a dry lot and fed hay 365 days a year but he doesn't mind and I don't mind because he's right outside my window only 20 feet any time I need that hug from a special friend. I continue to struggle with my stomach issues and even more issues since my knee injury and I will write about all that next time but this is long enough for now. Horses have made it all easier to handle....
No comments:
Post a Comment