Alcohol and Motherly Parenting

So, here I am, age ten. I just started living with my father. We moved to a different town close by, to where my mother was left. I started going to a different school, which meant new people. I had just left all of my friends at my old school, left my mother, and lived in a new town. That's a lot for a young child to deal with and deal with that stress within a week time period. Please forgive me as you read; these memories aren't easy to accurately remember, let alone be painful to muster up.

As weeks went by, then months went by. I was failing every subject in school, I would stay up too late at night, I was starting to hang around with all of the "bad" kids, I was talking back to my sister (she ended up moving back in with us as her current situation wasn't a good environment, this was my sister that moved from our mother's house before my parents got divorced), and I really didn't care about anything.

My mother didn't call me. After a couple of years, I was surprised to get a letter from my mother about three weeks after my twelfth birthday. The letter contained a Walmart gift certificate and a small note that said "I love you, mom" on it. At this point in life, not hearing from my mother, I really didn't care that she sent me anything. When I actually went to use the certificate, it was no good. There was no money on the certificate. It was for ten dollars. How would you think you would feel?

Back to getting in with the wrong crowd. So, my father worked, a lot. He was headed to work by dawn and was home at sunset. I would run the streets and had friends that were troublemakers. I would be home very late, and my father really didn't stop me. I do not know if it was because he felt bad for us, me, he didn't want to deal with it, or he just didn't see it as a problem. My father pretty much gave me free rein, and it didn't end well. My reign of terror decreased when I was caught with my friends, destroying a boat harbor.

It was late. My father was working, and my sister was out with her friends. My "friends" and I walked down to a boat harbor on my block. While the others were breaking into boats, I was on the pier that boats were tied to. I got up and walked over to a metal rod that held the piers together that the boats were tied to. I pulled out the pin, and eight yachts floated into Lake Ontario. As I watched the boats float away, I felt my heart drop, my throat became warm, and I knew this wasn't going to end well. The owner of the harbor came outside and saw what was happening. You guessed it...he called the cops.

We caused $78,000.00 in damages. I got off light with $12,000.00 and probation thanks to my father paying for a good lawyer. I was on probation for a little over a year. My mother never knew of this. My father wasn't mad but worried. He moved us to another town nearby where again. I had to go to a new school with new people. I was not stable.

More to come! Story Three- What had we all become?