The Story of My Life...in 250 words or less!

   Day 1, Wednesday: The story of your life in 250 words or less (or one paragraph... no one will be counting your words... probably)

      Hello! My name is Paula. I was born a long time ago in the early 1950's to a lady named Pauline and a guy named Chas. This couple already had 3 other kids. An older son, also named Chas, and twins named C. and F. This wasn't the healthiest of families, but it is a well-known fact that you do not get to chose your families. My dad worked in the oil fields and he was an alcoholic  My mom was a stay-at-home mom with four kids (all two years apart) . And two years after me came the baby, a boy named. R. We lived in a little town in Kansas, in a low-income housing project, and were pretty much happy kids. We did all the things that other kids do. We played and went to school and pretended that nothing different was going on at our house. Truth be told, we were different than other kids. My dad drank. And he could be mean. And he would get arrested occasionally  And my mom yelled. And she could be mean. But she always protected us kids.
 
     Life went along like this until I reached the ripe old age of 7. That is when my life forever changed. My dad committed suicide. And my mom was left with 5 kids to raise on her own. We lived close to her parents, my grandparents, and they helped. I did NOT like my grandmother. She was mean and nasty. And didn't like all of her grandchildren. Some she liked better than others and it was obvious. But we all went along and managed to grow up with few scars. (Well, that might be questionable by a therapist, if I were ever to find the courage to go to one.)

     I graduated from high school and like most girls at the end of the 1960's, I got married. Big mistake. But from this unhappy union I had two sons. Their names are Daniel and Justin. I had a baby daughter between the boys who was stillborn. She is my angel baby, waiting to be reunited with me in Heaven. After a nine year disastrous marriage I was divorced from my first husband. Soon after I met husband number Two. Richard. You will see me writing about him often on my blog. Richard is 18 years my senior and I feel like I have grown-up with him. I went to nursing school after I met him and we moved in together for 17 years to raise my sons and start my career. In 1996 we married. My sons have grown and left home. The oldest has had a rough life of drugs and jail and rehabs and drugs and jail and back to rehab. We are currently raising his two kiddos; Darian, 15 and Harley, 13. We also have one other grand daughter from our youngest son. And we have an 'adopted' daughter who has 4 kiddos giving us a grand total of 9 grandchildren varying in ages from 3 to 23.

     My life now is spent caring for Richard, who has end-stage Parkinson's disease. We have recently become Hospice patients. So along with Darian and Harley, I care for him at home. It is tough. But it is what we all want.

     Now there you have it. Not in 250 words or less. More like 500 words. But who can get their life down to 250 words? And as you will see, I don't in any way try to sugarcoat things. This is the story of MY life.