Hello, potential readers of my blog. Overall, life has been relatively good to me. I had a pretty decent upbringing, although I was part of the generation that thought we had to find something to complain about with regard to the way our parents behaved with us; they were too strict, they fostered co-dependency, they were too lenient and gave us no concept of structure so now we were Adult ADHD. Everyone had something. But looking back as a real Adult with a capital A I have come to the realization that my parents weren't that bad. My Mother made a concerted effort to be a disciplinarian, give us boundaries and teach us skills of daily living we would need, whether married, single, working or stay-at-home Moms. We sabotaged her at every turn. And to such an extent that by the time I came along as a pre-teen/teenager she would give up after very little effort and say, and I know this by heart over 40 years later, " Oh, never mind! You girls (I was the 3rd) just never want to learn how to do anything! I'd rather do it myself!" First, let me explain one aspect of this. I was the 3rd born daughter; the oldest was 12 years older than I was; the next was 6 years older than me. So my parents had three girls 6 years apart. When I was a speck in the womb, I was "supposed" to be a boy. I had to be. They only picked out boys names. I was to be Richard Turner. I was a month pre-mature, weighing in at 3 lbs. and lost from there, as is typical. What is mind-blowing is that they told my parents not to worry too much about the name because I would not likely make it. What?!? I was 3 lbs. and only 4-5 weeks premature. But in 1953 they didn't have a NICU. I think they had an incubator in the nursery where all the other babies. After a few weeks they told my Mother that I was the most active baby they'd seen in an incubator. It sounds like it's for chicken eggs. They came to terms with my gender. But I heard the story so much, I didn't come to terms with it for quite awhile. I was a tomboy deluxe; no dolls for me, please. I collected wood to make real tree houses. I wanted my Dad to play catch. I wanted to play with other boys with similar interests. I gave all this up for one boy in 7th grade. About the time girls give up their girly doll pursuits for boys. The difference is I kept him. Married him eventually. Too bad it didn't work out.
So we've established I had it pretty good. I didn't fare well in marriage. But I did fare well in child rearing. I have a wonderful daughter that was a delight to raise. I am a Psychotherapist by training and profession. I had a wonderful practice, lucrative and great referral base. Then I sent my daughter off to college and went kind of crazy. I thought that because of my profession I was immune to empty next, after all, I knew all about it. Ha! I sold everything, handed my practice over to the first person I asked to take it [cringe!], and off I went to Sunny Southern California; Santa Monica. Great times, fun in the sun, boogie boarding in the ocean! Less than a year later I was in a MVA with a back, neck and head injury. I've never been the same, mainly because the "trauma" to my body brought on Lupus then a sort of cascade of illness ending with breast cancer last year. But I have come out of all of that, with nothing now but adrenal insufficiency aka Addison's Disease. Well, and that nasty head injury caused me to have lasting memory, cognitive, time management problems. But, now I can garden, walk, exercise, actually make all my church meetings - I hate missing them and always feel so good all week when I can go - fulfill the callings I have in my Church. I am hoping to get licensed here in Utah, and work again before I get any older.
There you have a window into my life in a nutshell. Without the nut. We'll fill that in as we go. Welcome to my blog. Most posts will be more exciting, including photos and such. I can't locate my birth through High School photo album or I'd bore you with some photos. I'll look for it. Until next time. This is life...as I see it.
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