Small Town Girl

I was raised on a small farm town north of Santa Fe New Mexico, if you blinked you would miss the green sign that reads my home town.

I am the daughter of two alcoholic parents and a sister to four girls and one brother. Being the eldest, came with the burden of helping to raise them.

My parents were strict. I didn't agree on certain ideas they had to raise them. The drinking was no example to set for them.

We had farm animals. Chickens, cows, pigs, we would feed very early to make the bus for school. In the winter time the snow would be to our knees.

The bus ride was an hour. We collected students along the route. There were bullies that lived a few miles from our home. One day, one of the bullies decided to pick on my younger sister. My little sister went on the route that parted the road, which went in the other direction.

While they rode with my little sister they drug her by her hair, from one end of the bus to the other end. Just what bullies do for no apparent reason.

The bus driver did not help her. She was terrified when she got home. I felt like a mother hen. I felt had to defended her by challenging the bully to a fight after school.

My little sister was in elementary school, but was no match for the middle school age bully. At the end of the day we met outside the school grounds and began arguing back and forth.

All of a sudden I was being pushed into her and it was on. When a person is angry and the adrenaline is running rapid through you, it's like being invisible and feeling like nothing can hurt you.

I won the fight. I felt some relief because she was never bothered again. I got suspended from school, and my parents grounded me at home. I was glad nevertheless, my little sister thought of me as her hero.

The years I spent protecting, feeding and raising them, was a never ending task. We were all different in some way or another. I was the most stubborn of all for sure, but I had no idea what I was doing. I was only in my teens at the time.

I became a parent myself at the age of nineteen. I had experience from helping to raise my sisters and brother, but there was no instructions or manual how to raise my own children.

I did not realized how different it would be from raising my sisters. My daughter, now has her own kids. Nine in fact. She is raising them by herself and is not forty years old yet. She is a strong willed woman and sometimes asks for advice.

I often have told her that she will make mistakes along the journey. Just as my grand kids will make their own. It is impossible to know if it is the right or wrong way to discipline the children because everyone has a different opinions on punishment.

I preferred to punish my daughter by taking her favorite electronic device like her phone, for a week. Depending on the wrong she had done. Some prefer the paddling, some just abuse. It is unfortunate, we see by example and learn by it.

Everyone is different, I explained to her. If we were all the same imagine how this world would be. So simple, boring and predictable. I hope that I have set a good example for my kids. I want them to raise their children as I have raised them. With respect, and morals.

They will do some good in this world. I raised 3 kids and now have 13 grandchildren, I am proud of everyone of them. No matter how bad things became I never lost my faith or composure.

I would live my life the same way all over again. I have no regrets.

This is my life story!