Let's Start at the Beginning

I feel like in order to get to the end we have to start at the beginning... So we are going to start at the VERY BEGINNING and when I say that I'm talking about the birth of yours truly.

I was born to my parents we will call my mom "Karen"my father's actual name is Rodney aka "Rod". (I changed my mother's name due to what you will hear later on in my blogs.) They were madly in love. This man was my moms soulmate. What do most do that love each other? Well they decided to start expanding their family. Unfortunately, their first attempt did not go as planned. I was suppose to have an older sister named Jennifer Rae. She sadly died at birth, my mother's umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and they couldn't bring her back. Obviously they were devastated that they had to bury their first child and go through such a traumatic event. After several months later I was conceived, but not without some complications. My mother tried to do a natural birth again, however, the same complication that happened to my sister was happening to me. They did an emergency C-section and got me out. I had a collapsed lung, but were able to bring me back. Woo Hoo! Thanks Doc!

The next 17 months of my life were what you would say normal I had 2 parents that loved me and we lived what you would call a typical suburban blue collar family life in Phoenix , Az. My dad was a roofer and my mom was a secretary. At 18 months old is where my life takes a dramatic turn... My father went to work as normal on I believe is/was an office building and then what was a normal day turned into one of the most horrific days of my moms life. She got a phone call telling her that her husband had been hurt badly on the job, not only was he hurt he was killed. He had been working up top the office building that day, working along side a crane which he did everyday, unfortunately that day the bucket of the crane broke and it fell on him, crushing him. I can't even imagine the heartbreak my mother experienced that day and the days to come. She was left to care for me at 18 months old with no family in the state, so she ended up moving us back to Iowa where she and my dad were originally from. My moms parents helped out with me quite a bit from what I have been told. My dads family also lived in Iowa and helped out but they were several hours away so not as often. Sad Sad Days...

Now lets jump a few years... My mom met her next husband in Des Moines and with that relationship making moves her and her soon to be husband eventually decided to move us back to Az. I was 5 years old when they got married and my mom changed my last name so that I wouldn't "feel left out". My dads side of the family were not happy about this but couldn't do anything about it. A few months later they had their first girl and then another 18 months later, yes a girl. Are we seeing a pattern in my family LOL. I have several happy memories of my Step-dad being a goofball, teaching me to throw a softball and ride a bike, swimming with us in the pool and taking family road trips, you know typical family stuff. Yet as the years went on things started going very very wrong. He was short tempered, and I got blamed for us missing church, and I started receiving lots of punishments little did I know he had a very real problem...

I hope you are enjoying my story so far. Believe me there will be LOTS of ups and downs. Please continue to read as I let you into the what I call "My Savage Life"