There was a cute sophomore drummer and an almighty senior drum major. So with it being my "duty" as drum major I went up to Alex and introduced myself. And yes, you read that correctly, I am 2 years older than my main squeeze. That was late 1999 and we did not start dating until the LAST day of my senior year, June 1, 2000 when our "group" decided to go camping at Mt. Charleston. Wait, let me back up a few weeks when Alex came over with a couple of guy friends who dared him to kiss me...childish, I know, but look where it got us :) So now back to the camping night...once it was time to turn in (yes, we slept in the same tent, wrong I know) I asked him if this was the start of something or not. He of course said yes and so now we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Exciting, right?? Well, not entirely. Remember this was the END of my senior year. I had already paid my deposit and was rooming with my friend Jess up at UNR. So I thought, ok this will be fun for the summer, I guess. Now fast forward about halfway through summer and I was really falling HARD for Alex and I thought, I can't go to UNR!!!! So I wrestled with how I was going to tell my parents and Jess that I didn't want to go to UNR. I was going to stay in Vegas and go to UNLV. Unexpected Road #1. Now skip ahead a couple more weeks and I find out I am pregnant. Unexpected Road #2. I can honestly say I was less than thrilled. Not that I don't love Anthony to pieces, but honestly it was an Unexpected Road!!! Now I have to figure out how to tell my parents I'm not going to UNR and I'm pregnant. Parents being the sneaky people that they are, they found out on their own. I had a doctor's appt. earlier in the week and had to schedule another one in a month as any doctor would do for a patient that is pregnant. My mom decided that she would go in my room to get any dishes that were there and she saw the new appt. card. My parents called me home and I knew in their tone of voice that they knew...what an agonizing drive home that was! Of course they were disappointed in us and really, I was too. But what was done was done and we needed to travel on our Unexpected Road. During my pregnancy, my mom made me pay $250 a month for "rent" but really it went to hospital expenses. I was working part-time at Party Supply House for $7/hour and attending community college full time. Part-time did not get my any benefits, but being full-time college, I was covered under my parent's insurance. Somehow, my mom was able to finagle Anthony to be covered under her insurance. WooHoo!!
I really struggled to find God through all this. I doubted him and was quite angry at him, I mean really, it was ONE time. I stopped going to church and my mom didn't force me. She figured I was 18 and it was my decision now. Finally when I was about 6 months pregnant, the College and Career class (there was no "young marrieds class" at this point) had a campaign called "Find a Need and Mend It." My sister looked at me and saw that my need was God. So she told me I needed to come back to church and that no one would judge me for being an unwed mother. After I chewed on that for a few weeks, I decided she was right! So Alex and I started attending the College and Career class, which eventually "gave birth" to the Young Marrieds class and we were able to attend the class even though we were not married.
Then on March 28, 2001 Anthony entered the world. I was still living with my parents and Alex was living with his mom and still going to high school. He was a junior when Anthony was born. My mom refused (as she should) to let Alex move in with us. Of course I was mad at the time, but look back on it and thank her. We spent the first year of Anthony's life living apart. I was tired of doing this and really Anthony needed to know his dad better. So we decided to get an apartment together. It really was a fast decision and not gone about the right way, either financially or spiritually. Neither one of us prayed about it and we knew it was wrong since we were not married. But at this point, I still was not as close with God as I should be so I figured I've already pushed Him away, a little more won't hurt. We moved in to a 2 bedroom apartment right at the beginning of The Lakes on June 15, 2002. Why I remember that date, I have no idea, but I do. We scraped together every penny we had to pay the deposit and first months' rent of $649. I would love to be paying that a month now!!! Suddenly, the realization of "we are on our own" set in. We had our own power bill, phone bill, cell bill, cable bill, etc. Yikes! Not to mention a new car payment of $215. Again, I would LOVE to be paying that now!!! We struggled while we lived there. I eventually was promoted to assistant manager and then manager at Party Supply House, which now meant $10/hour and full time. Better, but still not fantastic. Alex had many different jobs that were leading no where. One being door-to-door salesman on commision only. That one really stunk!!! We "survived" by opening up several credit cards, all with low limits because we didn't have credit. We would charge monthly bills, but not be able to pay the balance off at the end of the month. So we ended up borrowing money from my parents. Another Unexpected Road (for us AND them)
So that is the "Family" Unexpected Road. Next up is "Financial" Unexpected Road...
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