Seminary . . .

I have rewind the hands of the clock to tell this story.  

When I left off, I was 6 years old and my mom was making us white shirts with iron on letters.

Today's story takes place when I was an only child so I must have been 1 or 2 years old.

Mom and I went out to lunch today at a Mexican restaurant.  I ordered Huevos Rancheros.  When the plate was delivered to my table, they had included a slice of tomato with my order.

I did not eat the tomato because I have a love/ hate relationship with tomatoes.  As I admitted this to my mom, she told me the story about when my father attended seminary.

That was brand new information because I never knew my father had attended seminary.  She told me that she would drive him to seminary and luckily some people would allow her to come over so I could nap.


Afterwards she told me of our neighbors would grow vegetables.  He would drop them off at the front door so we ate a lot of free produce.  One of the veggies, he grew was tomatoes.  She would make a lot of stewed tomatoes out of those tomatoes.  Maybe I ate too many of those tomatoes when I was a child so now I do not like tomatoes that much.

Today I learned some new details about my childhood.  I never knew my father had attended seminary.

Just say no to white shirts with ironed on letters

Sometimes you have to wonder what you were thinking when you look back to the outfits you wore so many years ago.

While I was in Pittsburgh over Labor Day weekend, I found a photo of me wearing a shirt that made me say Why?  Mine you I was only 6 in the photo so I had no choice in the attire I was wearing.

No, the why?!? was directed towards my mom.  She had decided to make white t-shirts with iron letters.  Each shirt had the family member's name on the shirt.  The only one who avoided what I call the shirt incident was my cousin because she was only about 6 months when my mom made the shirts.

So what was the reason for those shirts?  We had a family reunion in Lancaster, Pennsylvania since my aunt who at that time lived in California was in Pennsylvania.  My mom did not have much money so she created the shirts with the little bit of money she did have at that time.  The style though screams early 1980s.

I can only remember going to Hershey Park while they were in town.  During that reunion, I rode the Super Dooper Looper, my first roller coaster.  

That hair of mine - Did I take a weed wacker to it?

Me this past July riding that roller coaster - I even helped a little girl conquer her fear of riding the ride.

Traci

The birth of Moi`

I born in May of 1975.

I've got to backtrack though to my mother's seventh month of pregnancy.  

Her only living brother was killed in a work accident.  She and I, in utero, traveled from eastern Pennsylvania to western Ohio via an airplane.  Uncle Bob was buried on my grandma's 47th birthday.  From what I've been told, it really tore my grandma up.

My original due date was suppose to be in late April.  I decided to be born 2 weeks later than expected.

Here are some facts that I know about my birth.

1. I was born in the same county of Hershey, PA hence my love of chocolate.
2. It was a Thursday.
3. One of the nurses was scheduled off at 3 pm but decided to stay until I was born.  I was born at 3:05.
4. The Sunday after my birth was Mother's Day.
5. My father announced at the church that I had been born.
6. I was baptized soon after my birth by my paternal grandpa.
7. If I was a boy, I would have been named Matthew.

Tomorrow I'll share some more photos of me from when I was about a year old.  Then the day after that I'll share my sister's birth.

My life until I was about 3 years old was not too bad.  We didn't have a lot of money but I was loved. Something changed when I was 3.  

Traci

Next Comes Marriage

After my mom left West Virginia Wesleyan, she moved back home.  By the time she left school, she was engaged to my father.  Once again when she was asked about the engagement, she does not remember how or when she got engaged.

They got married in Clairton, PA which is just south of Pittsburgh.  The church where they got married was the church my grandpa was serving in at that time.

She tells the story of how they were watching the parsonage during the winter before they were married.  It was so cold outside and the furnace went out.  The water in the toilet froze.

Their attendants in the wedding party was my two aunts and two other guys from the church.  Mom doesn't even remember their names.  She thinks one was the choir director.

For some reason there was two different rehearsals.  My uncle had to step in for my aunt.

After getting married, they moved to the Harrisburg area. Father had a lunch counter in a department store.  

Mom has told me stories about being stuck in her third floor apartment when Harrisburg was flooded during Hurricane Agnes.  I guess they were in the department store when the rain began.  A British lady kept telling the angels in heaven to stop peeing.

They did not have a lot of money so she started eating Chef Boyadee straight out of the can.

They also lived in Jonestown which is located in the same county as Hershey.

Then almost 4 years after getting married, I was born.

The story will be continued tomorrow.

Traci

What about my mother?

Vicki was born in December 1948.  

She is the oldest of 3 kids.  My uncle was born a year and a half later and then my aunt is 10 and a half years younger than her.

In between my uncle and aunt's birth, my grandparents had a stillbirth - Gregory.

My mom describes the neighborhood she grew up in as idyllic.  Her paternal grandma lived next door and her cousins were down the road.

My grandpa's siblings were close so all of the cousins grew up together.  My grandma and her brother were also close.  

When she was seven, I think, she was hit by a bus tire.  It was an icy morning.  Her school was one of the only schools in session.  The bus driver hit her.  She ended up breaking her leg and being in the hospital for a long time.  

Her family attended Concord United Methodist Church.  In fact that is where my grandparents met.  My sister and grandparents are buried in their cemetery.

As a child, she was part of a Girl Scouts' troop led by her doctor's wife.  When they were in 8th grade, they went to Washington D.C. as their last big event before disbanding.  Mom has such good memories of that trip.

She graduated from high school in 1967.  After high school, she went to West Virginia Wesleyan where she met my father.

She attended the college for two years.  During those two years, she met two of her best friends - Peter and Winston.  They are still friends after knowing each other for 50 years.

Some of my stories about my life involve those two men.

This a brief synopsis about my mom's life growing up.

Join me tomorrow so that I can share photos of my parent's wedding.

Traci

Meet My Father

After my mom graduated from high school, she attended college at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, WV.

Wesley Chapel at West Virginia Wesleyan College

While there, she met my father. 

My mom does not know when they met or how they met.  They were both in a sorority and a fraternity so maybe it was at a group function.  Maybe it was at the dining hall.  She has told me that I can make up the story of how they fell in love.

So who was my father?

Murray, my father, was the oldest of three children.  

He was born on Feb. 4, 1948.

One of my aunts was 2 years younger than him.  

My other aunt is 5.5 years younger than him.

He grew up around the Pittsburgh, PA area.  

His dad was an United Methodist minister and his mom was a stay at home mom.

He graduated from high school in 1966 and then began to attend school at West Virginia Wesleyan with a degree in psychology.  He ended up graduating from college in 1971.   

My father at about the age of 12

Then his life changed when the doctor's discovered a tumor on his pituitary gland.  He was a sophomore in college.  He had been studying when all of the sudden he couldn't see.  So a fraternity brother drove him back to the Pittsburgh area.

After his surgery to remove the tumor, he was left 75% blind.

Even before the tumor, he was an angry child.  At least that is what one of my aunts has told me.

His anger continued through his adult life.  

He was also very child like from my mother's reports about him.

I know very little about my father.  I wish I did know more.  Family history is important to me.

My grandma, his mother, told us very little.  We mostly heard about her 5 or so boyfriends prior to meeting my grandpa.  My grandpa died in 1992 so I never got to talk to him about our family.

Join me tomorrow for the continuation of my story.

Traci

Introduction

My Write 31 2017 theme is going to be difficult for me.  

It's going to put me in a vulnerable state.

Please be kind while you are reading the words of my life.  The cross I've had to bear.

It's finally time for me to share this cross.

Twenty years ago, I  spoke about this cross at one of my college classes.  The professor sat me down and asked me not to talk about it anymore because people don't know how to talk to me after finding about my cross that I carry.  How do you talk to me?  As a normal person because that is what I am.  A normal person.

Last year, I asked Why?!? after my sister died suddenly.  I think I figured out some of the answers to my question Why?!?

I believe God wants me to share my adversities and the fact that I overcome them.  

This is me.  I'm a survivor of childhood abuse.  

Or as Mandisa says 
"You're an overcomer
Stay in the fight ‘til the final round
You're not going under
‘Cause God is holding you right now
You might be down for a moment
Feeling like it's hopeless
That's when He reminds You
That you're an overcomer
You're an overcomer"

I had overcome the abuse.

Join me on this journey but be kind.  Only kind words will be accepted.  

This is me!