Ok, so I mentioned that my dad died 1-2-2007. So me, hubs and kids packed up and head back to East Texas for the wake. He was cremated, and we didn't have a tradional funeral.
Now I pull in to Shreveport, and pull into what from the front looks like an OK hotel. I grab my purse to go in and get a room ...... oh ....... nice ....... I have no ID. I had driven all the way from Corpus Christi, Texas to Shreveport, LA. with no driver license. More good news .... hubs didn't have his with him either. So I call my moms brother, who lives in Shreveport, to bring his ID so we can get a room. He drives over, we go and get a room. Hes a little unsure of the room, but we take it anyway. He drives off, and we drive behind the hotel to our room. Hmmmmmmmmm. There we are sitting in the car wondering WTF have we done. I look at the windows back there, and some have curtains, some not so much. The ones that have curtains are hanging down off the curtain rod. Still being the brave one, saying we can stay one night, we get our stuff, and head up stairs. We get to our room, and I just push the door open ..... no key needed. I walk into a room in which the front is off the AC, there are holes in the wall, no cable, and dirty. I was really expecting to find a dead hooker under the bed. Kel says call the front desk, I say well I would, but the phone has no buttons on it. SO I call my brother! James to the rescue! He meets us at another hotel, with his ID in hand, and we luckily end up having a nice stay the rest of the time!
The next day is time for the wake. Now mind you, I have not seen almost anyone, except my brother from this side of the family since I was about 2. I had seen my dad, and grandma, and maybe my Uncle Thomas, but that was it. So I pull up to the house where this is talking place. A man walks up to my car window and says "Hi Chrissy", I just smile and say HI, then he says I'm your Uncle Robert. We all get out, we hug, and he says lets go in the back. As I am walking I hear people asking "is that her?", "whos that?" , "is that Juniors daughter?" Feeling a little awkward at this point! I was the highlight of the show! People would call on the phone, and whoever answered would inevidibly say ........ "Juniors daughter is here". At some point me and Kel and the kids were standing by a tree with everyone taking pictures of us! Kinda felt like I was on display, like a zoo animal! But it was all so awesome! They all just wanted to get to know us better. Everyone was extremely nice to us, and we heard all kinds of stories about what an asshole my dad was. They all loved him, but as I have found out ... he could be quite the ass. One guy there, my dad actually beat up 3 times in the same night at a bar! I got to meet some of my cousins, which was awesome for me! I have developed relationships with some of them. I now talk to 4 of my uncles and their wives, and kids. I love it. And I love them. It certainly wasn't their fault that I didn't see them. I don't really think it was anyones "fault", it just was what it was, ya know. Just the way it was supposed to happen I guess. And everything happens for a reason. I never had to see the mean, out of control side of my dad the way my brother, and the others did. Our relationship came about after I was grown. But I will admit, I look like my dad, have some of his personality traits (included gettin mah drink on LOL) , and have my dads temper to a degree, although I learned for the most part to keep it under control.
All for now ....... smooches~
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
my intrest in genealogy
Well I can say I came by my intrest in genealogy naturally! As I said before, as a youngster I lived with my grandparents while my mom was away at college. I stayed with my grandparents until right after the 5th grade. Once my mom got her degree, her job had her traveling all over the place, so it was just easier for me to live there. Well my grandmother was like "super geneologist", it was one of her passions. This was at a time before home computers, so she did it all through books, family members, writing to vital statistic offices all over the place. I can remember her having her stuff spread all over the place while she worked on it all. I can also remember being bored to tears, eyes glazing over, practically going into a coma every time she would talk about it.
Well as I grew up, and after I was married with kids of my own, did I decide to give this genealogy thing a shot by looking up stuff about my husbands family. Luckily there are a lot of websites out there that are a huge help! Some even have it where you can see other peoples research and build off of that. Which is how I have done most of his side. Oh I've had to do some research on my own, but others info was extremely helpful. He has quite the impressive line! His 10 x great grandfather (on his dad ... the Tripp side) was Richard Warren, who came from England on the Mayflower. That is amazing to me, and something to pass down to my kids. Not every family can say they had a relative at that first Thanksgiving! A cousin of his was captured by Indians and taken as one of the Indians wife. She was not found by her family until she was an old woman. Those are just crazy, interesting stories to me. I can't imagine! Just about everyone, If not everyone of his dads side of the family originally came from England. On his moms side, his great grandma came to the states on a ship called Potsdam, and she was from Holland. He has another great grandma from Germany. Of course finding records on them is hard. I have found a few, but its not easy to know what you are looking at when its written in a language you don't speak! On his moms side their are some pretty interesting characters there as well! His great great grandfather was asked to leave the state of Texas, after someone died in a fight! He got to come back at some point! His 3x great grandfather was the first sheriff of Wichita Falls, Texas.
On my moms side, it was pretty easy! My grandmother had done so much of it. Although now, through the aid of internet, I have even been able to add information to the work she had started. Which is what she would have wanted anyway!
But all of this I am doing, and researching, and compiling, so that my kids will know where they came from, and be able to read stories, and see old family pictures. Right now, when I try to talk about it with them, I see that old familiar look. Eyes glazed over, looking like all they want in the whole world is to not be talking about any form of family history! I know the look ............ I gave it 100 times I'm sure! But I hope they will appreciate it all one day!
Well as I grew up, and after I was married with kids of my own, did I decide to give this genealogy thing a shot by looking up stuff about my husbands family. Luckily there are a lot of websites out there that are a huge help! Some even have it where you can see other peoples research and build off of that. Which is how I have done most of his side. Oh I've had to do some research on my own, but others info was extremely helpful. He has quite the impressive line! His 10 x great grandfather (on his dad ... the Tripp side) was Richard Warren, who came from England on the Mayflower. That is amazing to me, and something to pass down to my kids. Not every family can say they had a relative at that first Thanksgiving! A cousin of his was captured by Indians and taken as one of the Indians wife. She was not found by her family until she was an old woman. Those are just crazy, interesting stories to me. I can't imagine! Just about everyone, If not everyone of his dads side of the family originally came from England. On his moms side, his great grandma came to the states on a ship called Potsdam, and she was from Holland. He has another great grandma from Germany. Of course finding records on them is hard. I have found a few, but its not easy to know what you are looking at when its written in a language you don't speak! On his moms side their are some pretty interesting characters there as well! His great great grandfather was asked to leave the state of Texas, after someone died in a fight! He got to come back at some point! His 3x great grandfather was the first sheriff of Wichita Falls, Texas.
On my moms side, it was pretty easy! My grandmother had done so much of it. Although now, through the aid of internet, I have even been able to add information to the work she had started. Which is what she would have wanted anyway!
But all of this I am doing, and researching, and compiling, so that my kids will know where they came from, and be able to read stories, and see old family pictures. Right now, when I try to talk about it with them, I see that old familiar look. Eyes glazed over, looking like all they want in the whole world is to not be talking about any form of family history! I know the look ............ I gave it 100 times I'm sure! But I hope they will appreciate it all one day!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
So now lets get some history!
Ok ... so now I'll give you some history! My mom had me when she was 17, my dad was 19 and in Vietnam. It was the typical age old thing ... good girl meets bad boy kind of thing. I think one reason my mom was with him (besides she did love him), was that it drove my grandparents NUTS! They divorced when I was about 2 or so. My mom went on to college in Rustin, LA., and I stayed with my grandparents in Shreveport.
Growing up I don't remember seeing my dad, or his side of the family very often. Only a few time that I can really remember. My mom came home every weekend. I do remember one time, my dad came to my grandparents and picked me up, I was about 7 or 8, and I think it was around his birthday, cuz I remember being there being a lot of people there. And he asked me if I knew where I was, I guess I said no, so he told me he was only taking me home if I could remember how to get there! I remember that freaked me out some, but I also remember His girlfriend Debbie ended up taking me home, so I didn't have to ride on the motorcycle. At least thats the way I remember it.
My dad was definately the wild child. I don't think I was ever "kept away" from him, he was just never really talked about. I didn't know why, but I never really asked much about him until I was much older. I knew he was a Bandido, and that his club name was Gypsy, but really didn't know much about him or anything about his life.
As I grew I started asking more questions, prpbably more so as an adult wanting to know more about where I come from and what makes me, me. Once I was at my grandmas, in Shreveport, and I was looking at old pictures with my husband Kelly. While we were talking about my dad, I was playing with some papers, and came across his phone number. He had tried to call looking for me! Now I say I wasn't kept from him, but no one told me he had called either. Months later, back home in Texas, we were having a party at my house, I decided to call him. There I was drunk, and in my bedroom closet (luckily its kinds big LOL) calling that number I had found. I got to talk to him, and he was glad, he even called me back the next day! I had not seen or heard from him since I was 13, and here I was about 33! We talked a few more times after that, then I didn't hear from him again.
One of my friends worked at the sherriffs dept., so I called her up, and asked her to run his name, and check his record! Well theres some good news! Now I knew why I didn't hear anything from him for long periods of time! He even had an escape from Angola State Prison on his record. Mom said she thinks he came to see me while he was out LOL.
Then a few more years go by, by now I am about 38ish and my phone rings, its him. He had hit a deer with his mortocycle, and didn't remember ever talking to me again, until something jogged his memory!
Then one day I came home from being out and about, and I see a name on my caller ID, and thought ... oh dad called, I'll call him back in a few. then I realized the last name was the same, but the first name was not my dads name. It was my brother!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a brother. Now I always knew he existed, but never knew how much he knew about me. I had seen him once when I was about 12 and he was 2.
Well the three of us formed a kind of warped little family! Put together kind of late in life, but thats ok. It worked for us. Me and James' dad dies on 1-2-2007. Complications from liver surgury. Talk about your interesting funeral / wake! My daughter had to ask me why everyone was smoking weed and putting the roaches on the pictures of grandpa. LOL! A guy named Hats broke his leg after being passed out in the yard, and they fixed it with a broken pool stick and a torn shirt. This is one side of my family! Odd maybe to some ...... but it does work for us. I love my family, and am thankful for the time I did get to have with my dad. And extremely thankful for having my brother, and his wife Dawn, and thier fabulous kids Lilli and Cadas in my life! As well as all of my uncles (dad had 6 brothers), aunts and cousins!
All for now! Stay tuned!
Growing up I don't remember seeing my dad, or his side of the family very often. Only a few time that I can really remember. My mom came home every weekend. I do remember one time, my dad came to my grandparents and picked me up, I was about 7 or 8, and I think it was around his birthday, cuz I remember being there being a lot of people there. And he asked me if I knew where I was, I guess I said no, so he told me he was only taking me home if I could remember how to get there! I remember that freaked me out some, but I also remember His girlfriend Debbie ended up taking me home, so I didn't have to ride on the motorcycle. At least thats the way I remember it.
My dad was definately the wild child. I don't think I was ever "kept away" from him, he was just never really talked about. I didn't know why, but I never really asked much about him until I was much older. I knew he was a Bandido, and that his club name was Gypsy, but really didn't know much about him or anything about his life.
As I grew I started asking more questions, prpbably more so as an adult wanting to know more about where I come from and what makes me, me. Once I was at my grandmas, in Shreveport, and I was looking at old pictures with my husband Kelly. While we were talking about my dad, I was playing with some papers, and came across his phone number. He had tried to call looking for me! Now I say I wasn't kept from him, but no one told me he had called either. Months later, back home in Texas, we were having a party at my house, I decided to call him. There I was drunk, and in my bedroom closet (luckily its kinds big LOL) calling that number I had found. I got to talk to him, and he was glad, he even called me back the next day! I had not seen or heard from him since I was 13, and here I was about 33! We talked a few more times after that, then I didn't hear from him again.
One of my friends worked at the sherriffs dept., so I called her up, and asked her to run his name, and check his record! Well theres some good news! Now I knew why I didn't hear anything from him for long periods of time! He even had an escape from Angola State Prison on his record. Mom said she thinks he came to see me while he was out LOL.
Then a few more years go by, by now I am about 38ish and my phone rings, its him. He had hit a deer with his mortocycle, and didn't remember ever talking to me again, until something jogged his memory!
Then one day I came home from being out and about, and I see a name on my caller ID, and thought ... oh dad called, I'll call him back in a few. then I realized the last name was the same, but the first name was not my dads name. It was my brother!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a brother. Now I always knew he existed, but never knew how much he knew about me. I had seen him once when I was about 12 and he was 2.
Well the three of us formed a kind of warped little family! Put together kind of late in life, but thats ok. It worked for us. Me and James' dad dies on 1-2-2007. Complications from liver surgury. Talk about your interesting funeral / wake! My daughter had to ask me why everyone was smoking weed and putting the roaches on the pictures of grandpa. LOL! A guy named Hats broke his leg after being passed out in the yard, and they fixed it with a broken pool stick and a torn shirt. This is one side of my family! Odd maybe to some ...... but it does work for us. I love my family, and am thankful for the time I did get to have with my dad. And extremely thankful for having my brother, and his wife Dawn, and thier fabulous kids Lilli and Cadas in my life! As well as all of my uncles (dad had 6 brothers), aunts and cousins!
All for now! Stay tuned!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
So now we are at home, chillin, watching some tv. Cell phone rings, its the BFF who's house I had left about 3 hours ago in Victoria. Now this is unusual, we talk allllll the time!
Now, let me go back, so that you can be brought up to speed with how this situation came about. Sterling and Amanda (best friends in Vic) have 8 kids between the two of them. Sterling has 4 with 4 different ladies! Amanda had 2 with her first husband, and then they have 2 together. Hunter is Sterlings fouth child, and Hunters mom is Ashley. Hunter is 11 , will be 12 in October. When Hunter was 4, Sterling and Amanda took over custody of him. He had an extremely rough time with his mom. She was in to drugs .... seriously, and was hooked up with some dude who physically abused Hunter, such as burning him .... and honestly we don't know for sure. They had him in counceling, things got better. At about the age of 9, Ashely convinced everyone she had gotten clean, and just wanted to have Hunter again. So finally Hunter went back to live with his mom.
Now ..... flash forward to Memorial Day night. Sterling gets a call from Hunters older sister who is married to a deputy and lives in Georgia. Morgan tells Sterling he needs to go get Hunter from Ashley because she is no longer clean. That Hunter had called her husband the night before, saying that he was scared, his mom and her boyfriend were drunk and they were useing. The Deputy then called the police from Georgia, to Texas, and the police went to their place, but left Hunter there, saying he looked fine. The Deputy then called the police back, letting them know that is not what he wanted, so they went back out there, only to find Hunter, Ashley, and boyfriend gone. Then Ashleys mom called Sterling and told him the same thing. And that Ashley had come to her house, beat the crap out of her and forged checks, so she was going to press charges on her. But still no one knew where Hunter was.
So while I am on the phone with Amanda with her telling me all of this, as well as staing that I was going to beat the shit out of Ashley if anything happened to him, my daughter walks in my room. Her exboyfriend, who she recently broke up with after 3 1/2 years had called her and texted her all night saying her was going to kill himself if he could not be with her. So now I have her freaking out, crying that it will be all her fault if something happens to him, and trying to deal with that, and comfort her.
Now we can flash forward to yesterday ...... exboyfriend is fine as far as we all know! And Hunter is safe! Ashley was arrested yesterday, and the sherriff called Sterling to let him know to come pick up his son. So they jumped in the car, drove for 5 hours, and he is now back where he needs to be again. Ashley would always tell HUnter "who will take care of me if you go back to yoru dads", so he always worried about leaving her. Well now Sterling and Amanda have said enough is enough, no more guilt, he is back here and is staying.
Now, let me go back, so that you can be brought up to speed with how this situation came about. Sterling and Amanda (best friends in Vic) have 8 kids between the two of them. Sterling has 4 with 4 different ladies! Amanda had 2 with her first husband, and then they have 2 together. Hunter is Sterlings fouth child, and Hunters mom is Ashley. Hunter is 11 , will be 12 in October. When Hunter was 4, Sterling and Amanda took over custody of him. He had an extremely rough time with his mom. She was in to drugs .... seriously, and was hooked up with some dude who physically abused Hunter, such as burning him .... and honestly we don't know for sure. They had him in counceling, things got better. At about the age of 9, Ashely convinced everyone she had gotten clean, and just wanted to have Hunter again. So finally Hunter went back to live with his mom.
Now ..... flash forward to Memorial Day night. Sterling gets a call from Hunters older sister who is married to a deputy and lives in Georgia. Morgan tells Sterling he needs to go get Hunter from Ashley because she is no longer clean. That Hunter had called her husband the night before, saying that he was scared, his mom and her boyfriend were drunk and they were useing. The Deputy then called the police from Georgia, to Texas, and the police went to their place, but left Hunter there, saying he looked fine. The Deputy then called the police back, letting them know that is not what he wanted, so they went back out there, only to find Hunter, Ashley, and boyfriend gone. Then Ashleys mom called Sterling and told him the same thing. And that Ashley had come to her house, beat the crap out of her and forged checks, so she was going to press charges on her. But still no one knew where Hunter was.
So while I am on the phone with Amanda with her telling me all of this, as well as staing that I was going to beat the shit out of Ashley if anything happened to him, my daughter walks in my room. Her exboyfriend, who she recently broke up with after 3 1/2 years had called her and texted her all night saying her was going to kill himself if he could not be with her. So now I have her freaking out, crying that it will be all her fault if something happens to him, and trying to deal with that, and comfort her.
Now we can flash forward to yesterday ...... exboyfriend is fine as far as we all know! And Hunter is safe! Ashley was arrested yesterday, and the sherriff called Sterling to let him know to come pick up his son. So they jumped in the car, drove for 5 hours, and he is now back where he needs to be again. Ashley would always tell HUnter "who will take care of me if you go back to yoru dads", so he always worried about leaving her. Well now Sterling and Amanda have said enough is enough, no more guilt, he is back here and is staying.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Memorial weekend ........
We had such a blast! Until Memorial day anyway! ButI'll get into that later .......
So first, my hubby and I take off to go to see some of our very best friends up in Victoria, Texas. Our Daughter Manda, came up also, but she took her own car, so that she wouldn't be stuck at the house when we were out doing stuff.
So we get there Friday evening ... and some friends come over and we set up this whole karaoke system. Then the shots started ......... then the singing started! We all hung out and sang til like 3 a.m. It was a freakin blast!
So then we get up on Saturday morning, and go "in to town", which in Victoria, isn't that big. First we go to the mall .......... get our hair did. Casey did my hair and waxed eyebrows ............. and damn ........... they rocked! Great hair! Effin awesome eyebrows! Then we go back to the house, and we start getting ready to head out to a little bar we go to sometimes out in Mission Valley called "The Barn". So this is our group we had out there. Me and Kel (my hubs) Sterling and Amanda, Deanna, Liz, TJ, Paul and Memory, Melanie, Ashley and Scott. They had all got together and were surprising me with a party for my birthday that had just past 3 days before! It was great. My daughter had put up ballons, and glow necklaces, confetti, ....... everything! It was awesome! We probably took about 100 pics! We all had sooooo much fun. My daughter, sooooooooo nicely watches 5 kids that night so that they could all be out there with me.
Then Sunday we just have a chill day, go eat ..... relax, hang out and talk. My daughter leaves to come back home so she can relax and see her friends.
So I get up Monday morning, and see my camera on the coffee table. So I pick it ...... want to check out all the pics we took while I go out to the garage to smoke. I turn on the camera ........ says no images found. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Well I think that my neice accidently erased alllllllll the pics we had taken that night. And my hair effin RAWKED too. So then I look down when I walk past the box with the 4 baby kittens in it. Two of them are missing .... and the garage door is open. Holy POO ..... did something comein and take 2 of them???? So I start looking all over ......... then finally behind the dryer in the laundry room ... and there they are all safe and sound. Then my daughter calls ........... she had left her cell phone on the trunk of her car when she was getting gas, and then drove off. Losing her phone. Awesome, so I call t-mobile, and get that sim card killed, and she goes to pick up another. Then my daughter gets back home after picking up her new sim card, only to call us and say that our chinchilla had died. Now Tweak was getting old. He was probably like 5 when we got him, and we had had him for at least 6 or 7 years. SO I call my son, who was also at home, but was in his room, and he goes and burries Tweak (R.I.P. Tweaker). Then me and Kel figure, its time to come home, so we start the hour and a half drive back to our house. Everything seems pretty chill, we stop at the store, stop by my moms so I can sign some papers she needed me too, then we come home. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh time to relax. This is where more fun begins ....
But alas ........ this blog is long enough ......... and I will finish this little story tomorrow! I am tired of writing! LOL
So first, my hubby and I take off to go to see some of our very best friends up in Victoria, Texas. Our Daughter Manda, came up also, but she took her own car, so that she wouldn't be stuck at the house when we were out doing stuff.
So we get there Friday evening ... and some friends come over and we set up this whole karaoke system. Then the shots started ......... then the singing started! We all hung out and sang til like 3 a.m. It was a freakin blast!
So then we get up on Saturday morning, and go "in to town", which in Victoria, isn't that big. First we go to the mall .......... get our hair did. Casey did my hair and waxed eyebrows ............. and damn ........... they rocked! Great hair! Effin awesome eyebrows! Then we go back to the house, and we start getting ready to head out to a little bar we go to sometimes out in Mission Valley called "The Barn". So this is our group we had out there. Me and Kel (my hubs) Sterling and Amanda, Deanna, Liz, TJ, Paul and Memory, Melanie, Ashley and Scott. They had all got together and were surprising me with a party for my birthday that had just past 3 days before! It was great. My daughter had put up ballons, and glow necklaces, confetti, ....... everything! It was awesome! We probably took about 100 pics! We all had sooooo much fun. My daughter, sooooooooo nicely watches 5 kids that night so that they could all be out there with me.
Then Sunday we just have a chill day, go eat ..... relax, hang out and talk. My daughter leaves to come back home so she can relax and see her friends.
So I get up Monday morning, and see my camera on the coffee table. So I pick it ...... want to check out all the pics we took while I go out to the garage to smoke. I turn on the camera ........ says no images found. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Well I think that my neice accidently erased alllllllll the pics we had taken that night. And my hair effin RAWKED too. So then I look down when I walk past the box with the 4 baby kittens in it. Two of them are missing .... and the garage door is open. Holy POO ..... did something comein and take 2 of them???? So I start looking all over ......... then finally behind the dryer in the laundry room ... and there they are all safe and sound. Then my daughter calls ........... she had left her cell phone on the trunk of her car when she was getting gas, and then drove off. Losing her phone. Awesome, so I call t-mobile, and get that sim card killed, and she goes to pick up another. Then my daughter gets back home after picking up her new sim card, only to call us and say that our chinchilla had died. Now Tweak was getting old. He was probably like 5 when we got him, and we had had him for at least 6 or 7 years. SO I call my son, who was also at home, but was in his room, and he goes and burries Tweak (R.I.P. Tweaker). Then me and Kel figure, its time to come home, so we start the hour and a half drive back to our house. Everything seems pretty chill, we stop at the store, stop by my moms so I can sign some papers she needed me too, then we come home. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh time to relax. This is where more fun begins ....
But alas ........ this blog is long enough ......... and I will finish this little story tomorrow! I am tired of writing! LOL
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