A Story Worth Being Told

My parents were teeenagers when I was brought into this painful world. Both children of chronic abuse and alcoholism. Which gives them no excuse for their actions as parents. But I will forever understand how Janet tried her damndest to give me and my other six siblings the best life possible. That means she worked. She worked her way up from the bottom of the corporate ladder. She started as a packer, packing boxes of wrappers for all the local businesses, then moved up to a foreman and took classes at night to get a front office position, by her mid twenties she was running the entire plant and setting up a roofing company with husband number two. She has the best work ethic you could ever ask for. Her company loved that she could raise seven children and be as successful as she turned out. From teen mom to corporate executive officer of the company she started at to support said baby in just 10 short years. She is an inspiration. She makes me want to be perfect so maybe she will look in my direction. She had seven children remembering them all and making sure they all get proper attention is hard. But I am pretty sure I did not exist beyond a name in her head on most occasions. Let me give you a quick rundown of my siblings Serenity, Clarissa (me), Harmony, Courtney, Keets, and twins Alex & Andy (only boy). I was a oops but the rest of them where in the spectrum of planned, Serenity & Harmony are four years apart from Husband 2 (NAme) first marriage, Courtney & Keets are from Husband 1 (Name), they are still great friends even after the divorce, Alex & Andy are the miracle twins that she had with husband 2. The reason She was diagnosed with Cancer the first year they were dating. She went through more rounds of chemo and radiation than you could possibly imagine. I was 8 years old. I helped with everything and anything. Serenity and Harmony spent most of that time with their biological mother, but Court & Keets were only 2 and 3 years old. Their father worked and paid all of the medical bills. Husband 2 worked in and out to pay the bills and keep food on the table. That left me and the girls and I tried my hardest to be there for them. We are still close from those years. Alex & Andy came 2 years later a happy oops. Andy is the youngest by 5 minutes and Alex reminds him in the regular. They are the perfect combination of their parents. We never wanted for anything. They kept us all in whatever club, sport, etc… I am proud to say I was nothing more than a bookworm. Andrew on the other hand started down the wrong path and continued down said path. He did get married somewhere along the lines to one of the randoms he was hooking up with. The two of them are constatly in trouble. Andrew has 4 daughters. I am the oldest. 5 years after me he had another oops with Sarah and they had Marissa. He married Liza 5 years after that and they have Melissa, and Alissa. They are what you would consider Irish Twins. One born in January and the other in November. It was the year I turned 10. Liza has had 3 miscarriages since e trying to have a boy. Both her and Andrew want nothing more then a little boy. The only problem is everytime she conceives since having Alissa, she miscarries at about 6 months. She then turns to her good friend Crystal and disappears for a few months. I am the primary care giver to their two kids. Marissa helps when she is not swamped with her own life and when Sarah allows her to be there, usually only when I was there. Having 10 siblings is tough, especially when you have to help raise them. I have 4 parents, but was honestly raised by My Gram Gram, Junie. She is Andrew's mother and she and her Mother, Annie, made sure my parents graduated and that I was taken care of. Those two woman are the ones who taught me to be strong. Those are the ladies that celebrated me, punished me, and shaped me into the brave woman I have become.