Stray Branches

Born in Xenia, Ohio February 23^rd 1969 I would be the oldest of five children who would too soon lose the innocence of their childhood at the hands of an alcoholic, abusive father.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

My parents met in the mid 60's and later married in February of 1969 just two weeks before I was born. My mother was seventeen, my father was 23 and although there was trouble from the beginning, trouble that would only escalate as the years passed my parents stayed together for nearly thirty years.

I'm not sure what brought these two together but out of that union here I am and while my childhood may have been tragic and my journey often rough there are still those things about my life I would not change for it has made me who I am...a survivor. I am grateful for the strength I have gained from hard lessons learned because it has been this strength along with a determined will or just plain stubbornness that has gotten me through experiences and enabled me to overcome obstacles that otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to.

I do have my struggles, the biggest being my battle with depression but I remain determined to someday defeat this or at least not let it defeat me though at times I seem completely at its mercy.

I'm grateful for family, friends, my children and my husband who has stuck by me through thick and thin. And I’m grateful for the creative outlet I have in the writing of poetry for it has brought me greater understanding of me by allowing me to somehow make sense of what otherwise would simply be a mess of emotions and thoughts lingering in the darkness of an unreachable place.

__________________________________________________________________________________________