In retrospect I now know my parents meant well and deserve a medal to open their hearts and home to so many. However, I deserve one of those survivor Tee shirts. One of those that say “I Survived My Family.” I have no idea how the money managed to stretch to support all of us children. I have however accepted that my mother was slightly insane. She does not remember being angry all the time. I remember. She was constantly overwhelmed and frustrated because she did not know how to handle the special needs of each child. Each child was responding differently to his/her dilemma. My father just went along calm and quiet for the ride. However, I did see several cracks in his calm demeanor during the period that Leighton lived with us.

We each had our individual challenges to overcome. Only people who have experienced living in a blended family could possibly understand the conflicts and frustrations that we all endured in our attempts to merge into a family. I survived the noise and confusion by learning to enjoy my own company, by laughing at myself, and by being a storyteller. I acquired a repertoire of life stories with which to entertain friends and coworkers. As I age I feel like I have an internal computer keyboard that allows me to press control alt delete so that I can deal with old resentments, heal, and move on. I have learned to be flexible and to accept and adapt to major changes in my life.