The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

I was born to the greatest parents I could have ever wished for back in 1977. Along with two other sisters, myself being the oldest of the three of us. We lived in an old farm house for most of our childhood, fifteen years. My parents rented the place from family for only $40 a month. They did the maintenance and work that was needed around the old house and the surrounding grounds.

The previous tenants were, to say the least, despicable creatures. Before we could move our things in, there was a week's worth of cleaning that had to be done. The things we found lying about in that house...trust me, you don't want to know. Rubber gloves were essential while cleaning. I was encouraged to help with the clean-up, being the older sister. My younger siblings enjoyed the days outside playing under the maple tree in the front yard...which was beautiful.

Once cleaned, and all our belongings moved in, the real work started. The old farm house had no indoor plumbing...that's right, no toilet, no shower, no running water. There was an old outhouse outside and a spring nearby from which my parents and sometimes myself would carry buckets of fresh clean water. We had a galvanized metal tub that we bathed in when it was cold out. Momma heated our water on the old wood cookstove and poured it into the tub for us to bathe in.

My daddy had built a wooden "showerhouse" outside for us to bathe in the summer time. The waterhose even had a fancy hanger so that we could stand under it and shower. My daddy was always looking for ways to make life better for us. We were not a wealthy family...far from it.

Daddy had heart problems and was disabled and couldn't work and Mom had to stay home to take care of him and her girls. It was hard for them, and I'm sure they went to bed many nights wondering how we were going to make the next meal, or how we were going to pay the electric bill. They never let us see it. Life for us was blissful. From a young age, I learned that material things are of very little importance. We had love as a family and that was all that mattered.

Eventually, we were able to get plumbing and had a toilet and a bathtub installed into the house. But, we girls, loved the shower house and when it was summertime, we still used it. Which I'm sure made my Daddy smile. Mom and Dad loved the shower house as well.

I laugh in remembrance of one day going out to see it was knocked over. Daddy tried to tell us that the wind blew it over. We believed him. It wasn't until years later, after we had grown up, that we found out Mom and Dad were having themselves a tryst in the shower house and knocked it down with them inside it!!! Goodbye showerhouse!

My sisters and I loved being outside. Day and night we were out running through the woods, swimming in the river, hiding in the cornfield, and in the winter, sledding in the snow, making snow angels, and having snowball fights. It was magical. Mom would wait until it was getting dark, then call us in for dinner, which was always rich home cooking. How I miss her cooking!

Years later, as we were growing up, boys started getting our attention and we all went through all the confusion, pain and elation of teenage infatuations. I was 16 when I met the guy that taught me that I didn't really know what love was at all.

He was quite a bit older than me, and treated me horribly. I thought I loved him, and that love meant you put up with their flaws no matter what. I couldn't have been more wrong. While I won't go into detail; this is to protect the identities of those involved; I'll just say it was a storm that nearly tore my family apart. I learned a harsh lesson...one that I vowed I would never repeat.

After I graduated high school in 1995, I met the man that would become my husband. My sisters and I and our friend from church had just been out walking through town and he drove up in his little piece of shit Ford Tempo. Our friend knew him and dragged me over to say hello. She told me he was a nice guy and that I should go out with him. I just smiled and whispered to her to shut up. She then wrote my phone number into the dust on his car!

She then proclaimed that she was hungry and asked him to buy us something to eat! I could have slapped her silly. Being the sweetheart that he has always been, Anthony (DarkOsmosis) took the last of his money and bought us something to eat...despite my trying to disuade him. His kindness and generosity struck me as rare and beautiful. I secretly hoped he would call that number on his car.

A couple days later, I was out with some friends, and when I got home, my sister told me that I had received a phone call from an Anthony. This went on for a week or two...him trying to call and never being able to reach me. I was shy as could be and scared to death to get into a relationship. Finally, he called and I was home to answer the phone. We made plans for him to come over and visit.

It was the day after my 18th birthday that he came over to see me. That day, we decided to make it official and see one another. It was amazing how much we had in common and also how different we were in many different ways.

I was a devout christian girl, and he was the guy that ran around with his buddies, smoked weed, and had no rules. We clashed for years after. Seven months after we started dating, we got married. Four years later, we had our first son. And 5 years after that, our second and last son.

In all these 13 years that he and I have been married, there have been trials, pain, betrayal, heartbreak, anger, resentment, confusion and poverty, but there has also been love, compassion, kindness, understanding, support, passion, and laughter. Our lives have taken many turns and there have been many lessons learned, yet we are still together and will never give up.

I've had friends come and go. I've discovered that I have older sisters that were by my Daddy before he settled down with my mom, and possibly a brother. I've learned what it means to be a mother, a wife, a sister, a friend and more...some of these lessons were harsh but I'm thankful for the fires that tempered me into who I am today.

Life is hard and some of its lessons even harder, but when you wake up one morning and realize that if not for that time of adversity, you'd not be any wiser than you were before. Also, you now know how to prevent these things from happening again. Painful? Of course...but worth it when you see how much stronger you become.