Meeting My Son

When asked to think about the pivotal events of my life, I immediately remembered the memories I shared in my Reading History assignment from CRIN R21. My seven prominent memories include the following:

1. My parent's tumultuous divorce has burned a mark in my memories. My father was addicted to drugs and alcohol, so we had to hide out in my grandparents' house so my father would not take us.  
2. Moving away from my grandparent's house when my mom remarried was another moment I remember as clearly as the day it happened. The move out of state felt like another divorce to me. 
3. I met my husband in high school. We attended rival schools, and he chose to compliment me while I was arguing with my current boyfriend at the time. Thankfully, my boyfriend did not hear him!
4. My husband and I continued to date throughout high school. He was two years older than me, so he left for boot camp the summer between my junior and senior years. We continued a long-distance relationship, with him flying home for my prom and graduation, but I feared he would grow tired of the distance. However, when he came home for Thanksgiving break during my first semester of college, he asked if I would marry him over the break. I begged my pastor, and we organized and held a VERY quick ceremony a week before he headed back to A school and I headed back to college. I finished out my semester and then moved to be with my husband and continued my education there.
5. The birth of my first child! Stevie was a complete surprise, but we were so in love with him. We lived in Hawaii then, so the first few years of his life were spent on the beach, hiking volcanoes, and eating good food!  
6. The birth of my twins! The pregnancy was planned, but we were completely shocked when we found out that we were having twins. I delivered five weeks early, and Liam and Logan had water in their lungs, so the first two years of their life involved multiple respiratory concerns, hospital stays, and breathing treatments. My husband was deployed for 11 months, and I struggled with postpartum depression, so it was a happy but very difficult time for me.  

Kaleb and Gavin: My youngest son, Kaleb, was about five months old when my oldest son, Gavin, first came into our lives. He attended school with Stevie, and I had seen him at track meets and other events at the school, but we had yet to meet officially. After a football game, Gavin, Stevie, and some other friends decided it would be funny to "dingdong ditch" some houses in our neighborhood. The cops were called, and when the cop, a friend of mine, learned who Stevie's parents were, he delivered all the boys to my doorstep. After some tough love and some parent phone calls, all the boys, except for Gavin, left with their parents. Gavin did not have a parent to call, and we learned he had been living out of his truck in the school's parking lot. He confided in us that his father had never been in the picture, and his mother, who suffered from mental health issues, had abandoned him the year before. He stayed with us that night, and my husband and I spent most of it discussing what we would do. We immediately concluded that we would offer our home to him, but we did not know what would or should come next. Thankfully, he accepted our offer immediately, and we worked together to determine the next steps. We contacted his school counselor, who determined Gavin qualified for the McKinney-Vento Program. Because Gavin was forced to survive for over a year independently, he initially struggled with the rules and expectations of living in our home. However, we never gave up on each other and worked through the struggles together. Those struggles that began 10 years ago bonded us together forever, and he is my son.