Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Write something AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL (10/02/14)
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TITLE: The Redemption of B------ and J----- | Previous Challenge Entry
By Brenda Blakely
10/07/14 -
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Born just as World War II broke out strong, I came into life just in time to witness the last of the flame that burned after the “ I do” shared between my mother and my father and witnessed by friends and family. My adornment of baby doll blond curls satisfied my Mother’s desire for a “baby doll” for three years before my sister came. Her later arrival brought her into the family just as the last of the bloom of love faded. She got only three years of time with us all in the same home, where my mom played house while my Dad drank to cover physical and who knows what other kind of pain.
Both of us were left with webs of confusion, bitter roots and a longing for things to be right at home. Our family moved in with our grandparents when I was five and ready to tell them all “what you’re doing is not right.” Ah the wisdom from a five (5) year old perspective. I had my own personal war and as a natural born fighter I wasn’t about to surrender.
My sister calls me a bully and I probably was in some ways. Protecting her was a full time job, not to mention the heavy weight of being a substitute mate for my Mom. I made the decisions on buying her/our first car at age six.
I was not off to a good start. Consistent parental instructions to ignore the “elephant poop” in the living room set the course for a greatly mistaken perception of truth and lies. Between my alcoholic Dad, my grandfather and our love/hate relationship and another man, who lost control with alcohol, my step dad; my image of a Father of any kind was tarnished and not easily redeemed. Father God patiently waited, loved and saw me through blessed by the prayers of a praying Grandmother.
Married at eighteen, a mother at nineteen, I moved on with a life that was less than it should have been even if a lot of it was just plain fun. My five children and my husband suffered from my sinful reactions to the circumstances of my life. Outside we appeared to be making it alright but the foundation just wasn’t there and parts crumbled daily.
The baggage my husband brought to marriage weighed nearly as much as mine, the package differed but it the weight of the two combined nearly broke the back of all we were and all we had. If commitment can be called love, and I really think that is a reasonable definition, we at least had that.
The five children I bore and we raised are good only by the grace of God and probably still the prayers of my grandmother being answered. I did the best I knew how, and genetics helped but many mistakes were made.
Several years after our children all came of leaving home age, we were actually the ones who left home and went off to school to get Masters of Education. We got much more than just a Master’s in education, we received a new life. Thanks to the journey planned and executed by our Father God we found Him, embraced Him and accepted His love. He helped us to unload the baggage a little at a time, as we were able to tolerate it, and we found His plan for service and the Great Adventure.
We, B------ and J-----, even wrote a book together, which is an absolute miracle and proof positive of the work of God in redeeming our lives and our marriage.
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