Nobody's Child

I grew up living in a house so cold ice froze on the inside of the window panes. Every time it rained, the roof leaked and all the pots and pans in the house were gathered to catch the dripping water. I was alone and unwanted, suffering through a childhood of appalling physical and emotional abuse. It only worsened when, at age eleven, my mother died leaving me at the mercy of others who had little or no use for another child except as a target for their own miserable failings. All these traumas taught me I could rely on no one but myself. They built within me a core of strength that I sometimes forgot I had. So when my husband and the father of my three children walked out the door saying, "I'll see to it you and the children starve!" I drew on that well of strength and replied, "Bet me, buddy!" It took many years and overcoming obstacles that sometimes seemed impossible to achieve, but through sheer determination, I persevered. This is my story.