Who am I? You can read the posts and at the end you can choose someone to "pick up the stick" so to say.

Also, now their are several who are pm and then this interest - so I'm am starting also a part 2.

If you are here at this site we know you are in pain, etc.

So............anyone can pick someone else to post.

We want to know things about you. Who and where you got your first kiss, the prom, jobs over the years, the most embarrasing thing that happened, your hobbie, just fun and memories.

So.....I don't remember if she has done one or not, but even if she has, she might have thought of something else....and some of you guys can come out and play too.

I would be very careful such as your phone number, etc. You can pm that kind of stuff.

Lets start.....I choose tsage Let's go and find some funny stuff about you, etc.

((((HUGS))) Kathy

we all need "splashes" of JOY in the cesspools of life
3:16...........real joy

I was born into a very religious family and my father was an abusive religious zealot. My childhood was filled with turmoil and since I was in the 4th grade I had to change to a different school in a different city every year for the rest of my school days.

I finally escaped my abusive father by running away when I was 15. I dropped out of school and hitchhiked to San Francisco (Haight Ashbury) and found love and peace for the first time in my life. It was quite and eye opener after my sheltered religious upbringing. But I was able to find ME for the first time in my life.

I went to work in a rock and gem shop and became a “rock hound”. Always a crafty person, I would string beads for necklaces and bracelets and sell them to friends. I also made skirts and leather pouches and macramé purses and things like that.

When I was 21 I married and had a lovely daughter. Unfortunately, the man I married turned out to be as abusive as my father and I quickly got out of that marriage and vowed never to let anything like that touch my daughter or me again.

I did some modeling in Los Angeles. This was nothing I ever aspired to. It just sort of fell into my lap when someone asked me to do a photo shoot for a magazine. It was a lot of fun and I continued to do fashion shows well into my 30’s.

I remarried at age 25 to a great guy who also was a great father to my daughter. I went back and finished school. I relocated back to San Francisco area and found a lot of job opportunity in the Silicon Valley. So many fun companies, I found graphic design software very appealing. I worked my up over 15 years promoting this software in the Public Relations field.

I had a really wonderful life and job. Promoting the artists who used our software and traveling to tradeshows and going on press tours. Our award winning software, (Photoshop) actually had groupies and it was tremendously gratifying to work for such a great company and with talented people who used our products.

That is where my story ends and my life with FM begins. It cut me off at the knees, suddenly and without warning.

Now I’m trying to find ME again. I’ve lost the creativity and the motivation.

I'm just so tired all the time. I haven't done any of my hobbies in YEARS and I just don't have the energy to start again. I never do the things I really enjoy. I spend all my energy just doing the things that HAVE to get done. Most days I can't even do that much... Even when I have a lot of time on my hands, I just don't feel like starting anything new. I don't have the motivation or inspiration to do anything. I don't feel happy anymore. Some days I'm very irritable.

I think this post was supposed to be fun and I hope I didn't spoil it.

I do have a lot of joy in my life through my daughter and little grandson. Who would have thought a little grandbaby could be so special. I hope everyone can experience this at some point in their life.

If not, then as I said - anyone can come aboard and share your life and the funnies, etc that have happened to you.

ks

((((HUGS))) Kathy

we all need "splashes" of JOY in the cesspools of life
3:16...........real joy

I remembered that I'm a good person and have a life to treasure.

And, don't forget to pass it on or anyone can get on it and post on it.

You can wait to be called on or just jump in there if you want to. I'm sure there will several of both ways.

I choose mysticwolf.Would some of her friends can let her know,

((((HUGS))) Kathy

we all need "splashes" of JOY in the cesspools of life
3:16...........real joy

So I choose mysticwolf (I hope that is spelled right)and I also choose Cornbread.

And, as said earlier - any can post if want to.

All right let your friends know they have been chosen to play. All right all you fibro people lets play....

((((HUGS))) Kathy

we all need "splashes" of JOY in the cesspools of life
3:16...........real joy

My grandparents adopted me almost before I was born. They were mama and daddy. My birth mother and I did the whole pretend thing for a while, but it turned out that it was better that I never see her again. For my whole life to age 10, she was my sister, then we tried the "mom" thing. She sucks at being a mom. That's another tale.

I was born in Houston, then at 12 weeks, was taken to Guam. Moved to Orlando when I was 2, to GA when I was 6, then to CO when I was 10.

Mama died when I was 8 of cancer- she was diagnosed when I was 6. Daddy did a 6 week stint of being married a bit later, for companionship I think, but she wanted to ship me off to my birth mother and that just wasn't going to happen. So, Daddy and I were back on our own. When I was 10 and an early bloomer, for some reason he got the notion to move us here, to CO, to be with my birth mother, her husband and their 2 kids. I think he was hoping that suddenly she'd want something to do with me. They were just moving from Guam. I spent 3 years here and after I was beaten by my "step-father" on my 13th birthday for not wearing socks (another story) Daddy packed everything we had and we left to Miami to live with his sister and her husband. Their kids were grown with kids of their own, but that was my family. I spent my summers in the Keys with Daddy and Uncle Ramey (Aunt Lady never went) and all my cousins. We were in Miami for about 9 or 10 months when Daddy found out he had terminal lymphoma. I lived with my brother (uncle by birth) for a bit then my birth mother found out there was money to be had, so she worked out some shady deal and convinced my dad to give her custody. I hugged my dad goodbye in July and he died in December, 2 weeks before Christmas. I was allowed to write him letters, no phone calls- don't ask me. Anyway, I spent another 3 years with my birth mother and her family and moved out. I was working full time from the time my dad died until then (ages 14 to 17). My 1st job was as a personal cook for 2 families. One had 5 kids, one had just one. The big family got 3 days a week and the other got 2. I went after school and made whatever they wanted for dinner, cleaned up the house, did some laundry, ironing, stuff like that. When they got home, dinner was waiting and the house was clean. Made $10 an hour which was a fortune back then!! I first remember cooking with Mama when I was about 3. I was on a chair in the kitchen learning to make meringue. It was always like that- me in the kitchen learning from Mama or Daddy. Daddy worked his way up from peeling potatoes in WWII to being in charge of probably every new officer's club for the Air Force in Florida and Guam after the war into the 60s. He designed the menu and recipes for a cave researcher and then Apollo 17. He was on the team that came up with freeze dried ice cream, and I was the only kid in 1st grade to bring an astronaut to show and tell. When he retired in the 70s he left the job of Head of Food Service for United Airlines and Marriott, basically he was their head chef. So I learned most of my secrets in the kitchen from him. By 10, I knew how to cook dinner for a family of 7.

At 17, I moved out,trained and worked as a nurse through a state program then got tied up with the wrong people who gave me what I thought was the right attention, got pregnant, then everyone including my useless boyfriend went to jail and I ended up homeless pretty much. He landed in prison when I was 9 weeks pregnant with Adam.

Met my first husband who wanted to be someone's hero and get a mom out of the deal, and I needed a hero and just wanted a real family of my own. I left my nursing job (yes, I worked homeless- I could work overnights or double shifts and stay off and on with friends) to have babies and be a wife. It was literally my dream come true I thought. It worked out that we were just right for each other, hero and mom, and we had Adam and then Will came along. It took a couple of years and I realized I didn't have to be mother to my kids AND my husband, so I asked for a divorce- I used what little money I had left from my dad to pay a lawyer, who got me full custody, but I have to say he's a good dad to Will. There is yet another story about him and Adam.

So....6 months later I met Honey. It was love at first sight. We had some tough times, but we worked them out. He was young and immature and had no idea how to be a dad to my boys. We slowly made our way though. In 1997, Rhiana came along, 8 weeks early. I spent 22 days in the hospital by her side and then she came home. Honey and I were married just 3 days before her 1st birthday.

We moved from Denver to Fort Collins in 2002 for me to go to school at CSU. I got almost through a degree in history (culinary and religious) and fell off a bus in a blizzard. The stair heater wasn't working. I broke all the ribs on my left side and torn up the joints and ligaments in my right hand. That led to the downhill spiral. I quit going to school because my hand just wasn't healing (despite having a total of 3 surgeries over 2 years to fix it, it's still troublesome). I was trying to type notes, but in a cast, that's hard to do. I ended up having what I believe now to be a total nervous breakdown. I became agoraphobic, something I still have trouble with sometimes, and I was horribly depressed. I did seek treatment, but ended up with a pill pusher who just changed meds every 3 weeks. I went through almost 2 dozen meds, some with terrible side effects, and finally decided to quit them totally. My dr. finally got me to take Topamax to at least help and see if it helped my migraines. It caused me to have what I now know was a severe fms flare. I was tested for MS and found to have lesions on my brain but not MS. Finally, this year I was diagnosed with FMS. The lesions have not changed since first found, but they also are undiagnosed. Turns out my birth mother has them too, only hers have recently started to increase in size and number. I keep in touch, by the way, with my half sister, who has 3 beautiful kids. My half-brother helped me move from Denver up here, said see ya soon on his way out the door to go home, and hasn't spoken one word to me since- I have no idea why.

Now, I'm hoping that life will start blowing me some kisses.

There's so much more to tell, but too much of it is just too tragic to share right now. Suffice it to say, I wouldn't wish most of my life on anyone. I've definitely had more blessings than I deserve, I know. But when I tell people my whole life, all the icky stuff, or when I share some of the stuff I've been through, I'm told I should be sainted. Who knows....right now, I'm in love, my kids are good and I'm learning a new way of living. I have God now, a real solid relationship, and that makes a world of difference!

If you want to know something, ask, here or in a PM. I'm an open book. Life's too short to keep too many secrets.

I honestly don't know who hasn't gone, so I'll say Jeerie it's you unless you went, then Scott is up! I hope one of you hasn't gone!!