Saturday, April 7, 2012

A little about ME

Ok, I've told my APS story, but I feel like I should tell a little about the real me.  Who am I, where do I come from, and were am I going?
 I was born in San Luis Obispo, California, in 1979. My Dad was in the military, so we moved around a lot while I was young. I lived in San Diego, Long Beach, Ridgecrest, Vallejo and Camarillo. Then we moved back to the central coast. All this by the time I started kindergarten. I went to kindergarten and the first grade in Grover City Ca. (now it is called Grover Beach, to attract tourists).
I wont get into the details concerning why, but my parents divorced when I was right about 7. My mom remarried quickly, which seems to be how she operates now. We moved to Coquille Ore...I thought we were going to another country, I remember that now. Talk about culture shock, coming from a California beach town, to middle of nowhere Oregon...We didnt stay there long, I was glad, I hated that house and town.
We moved to Sheridan Or. next, stayed there untill my mom divorced that guy, and remarried someone else. He got a job on a dairy in another town, moving again. I was going into the 7th grade. Two years at that school, then another move..this time to Cusick Washington, on another dairy. Cusick is a smalll town in northeast Wa, right on the Idaho border, on a small Indian Reservation. We stayed there for one year. Moved to ANOTHER dairy on the other side of the mountain, near Chewelah Wa.
Stayed there until my mom got another divorce, and we had to move off the dairy, into town. I finished my Sr yr in Chewelah, then joined the Air Force. Before I went to basic, we moved even farther north, to Northport Wa. about 5 miles from the Canadian border. If you are keeping track, that is everywhere along the west coast from San Diego, to Northport, border to border.
 The Air Force did not work out for me, I was medically discharged after only a couple weeks. It did, however, really mess my mind up for a few months afterwards.
I moved with a good friend of mine, more like a brother, even to this day, to try to get our lives going in Seattle. We stayed at his dads house while we tried to find jobs and get an apartment. Yeah, that was never gonna happen, no way we could have been able to afford to do that, so I went back home. I did get an apartment close to Spokane Wa, with another friend, but that didnt work out very well. We found out, we really couldn't stand each other for very long.
During this time my mom decided to re-marry her secong husband again, and we moved back to California, Pismo Beach. I figured, why not, and me and my best friend Nick(the one I moved to Seattle with) packed our shit up and drove to Ca. We stayed in a camping trailor in my moms husbands driveway. It was a block and a half from the ocean. I started boogie boarding again, and then learned to surf. I also got mixed up with a rough crowd. That area had some bad problems with Mexican gangs, I got in a lot of fights, got jumped a few times, and had to carry a knife to protect myself....I would hang out wit other surfers, and skaters...partied A LOT, and really enjoyed all the pleasures you can find living in a tourist town, on the coast of California. Surf, sun, new girls on vacation every few days...good times. I also made a couple more real good friends, that I still talk to.
My family all decided, for some reason I never could figure out, to move to Arkansas, I stayed behind.
Living in Pismo is expensive, good jobs are hard to find, and life was real tough. I was drinking and fighting all the time. I was talked by my mom into coming out to Arkansas to check it out. She told me how great it was, cheap and easy to get a good job.. She was wrong, yes it was cheap, and easy to get a job, but not a good on. I worked at a chicken plant for two years, untill I started getting clots. I also got married, and had a little baby girl. Unfortunately, that marriage did not last, we were both too young.
It wound up being the best possible thing to leave her though. It opened an opportunity to meet the girl that would wind up being the woman of my dreams. We have now been together for almost ten yrs. Been married for almost five, and have six kids total between us.That pretty much sums up how I got where I am today.
Ok, now about my interests and hobbys. I have been into many different things over the years. I used to love going snowboarding when I lived in Washington, started skateboarding and surfing when I lived in Ca.
Got into BMX riding and then mountain biking later. I am now thinking about learning scuba, but I dont know if I will be able to. My lifelong passion has been art, I love to draw, and more recently painting. I am also thinking about trying sculpture. I have sold a painting, and really hope to paint some more, hopefully I can find a market for my art.
Well, that pretty much sums up my life up to now. I can't work, I am trying for disability, and basically stay at home all the time. I seriously have some cabin fever, since I am not used to staying at home.
I am a mmber of the APS foundation of Ameirca, their website is   http://www.apsfa.org/   and their support forum is at www.apsfaforum.com/
That pretty much tells it all, I may have APS, but APS does not have me.

3 comments:

  1. Love hearing about your backstory Richard. Sounds like you have been through a lot in your life. Thanks for sharing your story and letting us get to know you a little better. I am lucky to call you and your wife my friends.

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  2. Richard never feel guilty about passing your medical issues onto your child as we have all passed this on to someone we love. For me I have passed it to my youngest granddaughter, she is 10 and because of this I want to make changes and find answers so she and all other children will not have to suffer so as they grow up. Thank you so much for sharing your story, those of us that suffer as you are are learning more about you. Take care and know that we are all in this fight together.

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  3. Richard, I just got out the hospital again with APS. I see you haven't posted in a while so I wanted to check in and see how you are. I have been in and out since the beginning of Febuary. I'd like to say APS doesn't have me now, but I felt like a rope in a dogs mouth for months now. I'm finally home, and hope the worst is over. Hit me back at my blog MEN & APS when you get this. -Peace, Carson.

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