What was your favorite activity as a child?
Playing with my paper dolls. I loved my paper dolls. I still have them packed away somewhere in my basement. I remember going to Homecoming my freshman year on a Friday and then playing with my Paper dolls on a Saturday while watching Saved by a Bell. I used my imagination and played for hours.
I compromised with him, if he would pay for the ticket, I would pay for the room. So that is what he did, he worked hard and earned the money and bought the tickets. Bob paid for his own but coming up with 1500$ as a 17 year old is a hard feat. I was very proud of him. We took that long trip over and Collin spent every second he could with Thao. We got to meet her family, got to see the beautiful island of Oahu and just relax ourselves. It was magical, just like every time I have been there.
Of course you can't forget the amazing food, the banana pancakes, the Vietnamese food we got with Thao and her family and seafood and desserts.
I was so happy that Collin and Thao got to finally meet. I'm rooting for their adorable love story.
This birthday was a difficult one for me. I turned 50. It was difficult, 50 is old for me, my parents both passed away in their 50's. It means I'm so much closer to the end of my life. I know, I know... logically I know that my parents are the anomaly, most people don't pass away before retiring. But that fear of 50 was not a logical fear.
So having told you the above, how amazing is my husband. He tells me a week before that we were going away for the weekend of my birthday. He wouldn't tell me where but finally told me we were flying somewhere. I was beyond frustrated because, grrr I hate surprises... (its a control thing, I'm working on it - Bob is helping...clearly)
So, we get packed, get in the car, get to the airport and finally he tells me he is taking me home. Home as in back to Georgia. Back to my roots. We got in the plane, landed in Atlanta, got a rental car, drove to Warner Robins where he had booked a room.
The next morning, we went to Hawkinsville, put flowers on my parents and sister's grave, went by my old home which is now empty and should be torn down and just around Hawkinsville. But it was so neat to show Bob where I grew up, my history.
I got to see my stepmother Angie, I had her on my mind for a while and was so happy I got to see her and my stepsister Melissa. Just this week, I found out Angie passed away and I'm so grateful, I saw her one more time.
That evening, Bob said we were going out, that I should dress up. However, he was coming in and out of the room, saying he needed to stretch his legs or that he needed to do something. I kinda thought something was up. Then we got on the elevator, and I asked him are we going to dinner.. alone? And he said nope... out of the elevator, there was Jody and Tonya with pizza, a cake, a tierra and sash and more of my friends from my childhood kept coming in. It was so amazing. I got to see some of my friends that I haven't seen for years. I loved it.
The next morning, we went to see Betty - Tonya's grandma in her nursing home and then we went to Tonya's for some amazing food and fun times.
The next morning we flew home. The boys while I was gone had decorated the house with balloons and streamer, they had made me a cake and they had gotten me presents!! That was pretty amazing too.
Overall, I felt so very, very loved and it made turning 50 not bad. It made me see how blessed I am in this life.
Personal History #8: What was your childhood bedroom like?
My childhood bedroom changed, when I was younger, I shared a room with my sister Tonya. We had barbies and paper dolls and we would play often with them. As I got older, Tonya moved back and forth to her moms and then back to her dads (with us). We had a bunk bed then. I was infatuated with Kirk Cameron from the show Growing Pains, so I had posters of him all over my wall. Later, 21 Jump Street came on the air and I found Johnny Depp to be so cute, so slowly my Kirk Cameron posters were replaced with Johnny. I had a stereo, I don't remember when I got it, but that was usually playing on the local rock radio station, or a tape of some type. When I was in high school, Tonya and I got TVs in our room, and from that point my bedroom was in full teenage mood. I try to remember that when my teenager basically never comes downstairs from his room anymore, that this is exactly what I did too. I kept my paper dolls though, all through childhood and even have them now somewhere in my basement.
3/23/2024
A few years back, 22 years to be exact, I was holding this little baby, I was his whole world, he was my greatest love (at that time, 2 more great loves came a few years later). This little baby, grew and grew and in what seems like a blink of my eye, he was running around, playing with friends. Then another blink and he was looking at girls, he had girlfriends, he had heartbreak and then one day he told me about a girl he liked. He asked if she could come over, she was shy but sweet and kind, I could tell she liked my Clayton and I could tell he really liked her as well.
Time went on, months, then years. Finally, my baby boy and this amazing young lady decided to get make their love official. My heart was both happy/excited/elated but if you can believe it, I also had moments of sadness, not for sweet couple, but for the official loss of my baby boy. He now, as he should, will cleave to his wife, I love that. I love that he has found his person.
Cregan states one evening, I'm going to Detroit next week for the Me-lee Tournament. Of course , I had questions, what is a Me-lee, where are you staying, how are you getting there, so on and so forth.
Well a Me-lee tournament is a gathering of gamers in Detroit, there's many different events happening that weekend, but the main event is the Super Smash Brothers tournament that happens on Sunday afternoon.
I was wary of Cregan going to a different state, not because he isn't capable of doing it, but his car might not have been. He had no plans on where he was staying yet and that frightened me too. Oh, and besides his car being questionable, it didn't lock, like at all, so that made me a little nervous. I asked him if he would mind me taking him and for a birthday gift paying for the room and food for the weekend. He finally agreed. We set off for Detroit, spent Friday night with Julie and then started to the event on Saturday. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was actually really fun, there were 100's of teens, young adults there, some in costume, some not. But everyone harmoniously in tune to this gaming world that Cregan lives in. And Sunday when the tournament was in the final rounds, the group all watching the event on the big screen, it was exciting and inviting, even for someone that can hardly figure out the buttons on the controllers, to cheer for the winners.
Asked the boys what they wanted to do, there response, stay home, do nothing. Asked if they would be up to something. Collin's response not if I'm going alone with you and Bob, "that's just weird".
So we compromised, Chicago with Collin and Alex. Cregan stayed home and worked and took care of Nacho.
The first thing we did was go on an agriculture river boat tour. I love that, I love learning the history of that amazing city. We ate amazing food, we toured and shopped and shopped.
Not sure what there favorite part of the trip was but I really loved taking them to Gordon Ramsey's burgers.
Where did you grow up? What do you remember about this place?
I grew up in many places. I moved from England in the 1st grade to Georgia, and then never really lived in the same house for more than 2 years until I was in the 8th grade, moving from Georgia to South Carolina once.
But when I turned 13 we moved to a small middle Georgia town named Hawkinsville, population under 4000. It is famous for few things, the Harness Festival, which is horse race and a football player, Charles Johnson who played for the Carolina Panthers. But that was when my parents bought a little piece of land and a single wide trailer in the middle of a Georgia red clay dirt road.
It was in that house that I meet and kept some of my closest friends. It was here that I made countless memories, some good, some bad, some funny, some very sad.
My parents expanded the 2 bedroom home very slowly, first they added a large front porch in the front of the home. That was torn down eventually and they built a dining room/sitting area in the front and an additional room. Then one weekend my step dad had a friend drop asphalt down on the dirt driveway and we all raked it as flat as we could. That driveway ended being one bumpy, lumpy mess but we had done it.
One year I had gotten a tree for Arbor Day, I planted it in the corner of the front yard, year after year I would watch as the tree got larger and larger. My mom decided to get chickens at some point, I remember the stupid rooster attacking everyone that tried to collect eggs.
A few years back while visiting my sister, we went to the trailer. It was abandoned and we snuck in. We were both struck with immediate nostalgia, but also I was shocked at how small the house was now. In my memories it was a much larger place. I realized that it was all the family events, dinners, holidays, my moms knick knacks and 1000's of other little things that filled that now empty space that made it feel bigger.
I'm often saddened that I have no home to go back to. My friends and family who have their parents still around and essentially their childhood home still around never quite understand how blessed they really are to have it. I feel like the loss of my parents and my childhood home attached to that loss, made me appreciate the everyday moments that I have with my children, they push me to make each holiday, event, birthday that much more special and precious. I know my children dont appreciate that, but someday they will and that is all that counts.
Personal History #5
Do you have siblings? Write about them.
I'm loving writing about my personal history. I've wanted to do this for a long time, primarily for me but also for my kids. Many of the people that I'm writing about in these entries, my kids have never met and that includes most all my siblings.
I have a lot of siblings, half, whole and step...
Keven Young - my oldest brother, he was my mom's first child with her first husband. I think I met Kevin when I was a baby, I don't know much if anything about him. I have tried to touch base with him for years through social media but have never been able to get him to respond. He has red hair, lives in Australia.
Christopher Young - my mom's 2nd child. I met Chris when my sister passed away in 1989. I remember he was very kind. Chris also lives in Australia. He most recently got married, he travels a lot.
Ian Lee - My bonus brother. If you read my post about my mom, you will find out that Ian was given up for adoption as a baby. I never knew he even existed until 2001. I got to meet him when I went to England twice. I'm so lucky to have him in my life. He works in construction, lives in England. Married and has 3 kids.
Michaela Miller Rabon my oldest sister. My mom's first daughter. Mickey is what she went by was the product of my mom and her boyfriend Gus. She was raised by my mom and dad and I didn't know she was a half sister until I was in double digits. Mickey had 3 kids - Benjamin, Matthew and Meggan. I would go spend the summers with her and her family. Even though I was younger than her, she was always kind, inclusive and loving to me. She was killed by a drunk driver in 1989 while her, her husband and her 3 kids were heading to dinner.
Carl Miller - my only full sibling. Carl lived with our dad and I would see him every other weekend. Carl joined the marines after high school. He was married a few times but never worked out. Most recently, he found a long ago love again (from high school) and they eloped in 2022. He seems very happy. He has a son, Ty, I was so happy when he told me he was having a son. I'm pretty sure the Miller name was going to end with him.
Eric Stoker - my step brother. Eric is my step brother from my dad and his wife Angie. Funny story about my step mother and step siblings. We knew Angie and Joe when my parents were married and stationed in England. I played games with Eric and Melissa when I was just a little kid. Eric is married to a Melissa and they have 2 children - Savannah and Hudson.
Stephanie Pierce - my step sister. Stephanie was my step sister from my mom and my step dad Jody. Stephanie was 3 years older than me, she was always liked by anyone who met her and if you really got to know her, it was hard not to just love her. She was killed while driving to work back at 1994. She was engaged and had already picked out her wedding dress. Both myself and my younger sister Tonya wore her wedding dress in our first marriages in honor of her.
Melissa Stoker - my step sister. Melissa was Eric's sister. She was a year younger than me, we were close growing up, even though I only saw her every other weekend. Melissa has one daughter, Cora from her first marriage. She remarried a few years back and she seems really happy. We haven't really stayed in touch, its hard when I live so far away.
Tonya Curry - my step sister. Tonya is Stephanie's younger sister. Tonya is 3 years younger than me. We are the closest out of all my other siblings. Most of this is due to the loss of Mickey and Stephanie and my mom and step dad. We feel like we are all that is left of our family unit growing up, and truthfully we are. Tonya came into my life when she was 3 and I was 6, and we lived together for the most part the majority of the time. Tonya was married to Robert and had Alex, they divorced and then she married Jason and had Jody.
