Indeed, life went on after I didn't hear from Mario upon returning to America in August of 1980. It was a sad time, one that had a very strong impact on my young life. After learning I would not be able to return to Eringerfeld by way of the next foreign exchange student trip, what little interest I'd had in school quickly waned. To top that off, problems at home that had already been occuring prior to my trip to Germany seemed to worsen once I was back. Being in Germany, with Mario, had provided me with the fresh start, the love and second chance in life I had needed. I'd been filled with hope about the possibilities of the future for the first time in a long time. Once all chances of returning to Germany were removed, the hope I'd had for the future was stripped away.
By January of 1981, I had run away from home, dropped out of high school and was quickly headed down The Path to Self-Destruction. The event that ended up saving me was one that most people wouldn't view as a positive: at the age of 18, I became a single parent to my first daughter, Samantha. To this day, I maintain that getting pregnant, albeit outside of marriage, and giving birth to Samantha saved my life. Had I continued living the way I was, I'm confident I would have been dead in my early twenties. From a very young age I had always wanted to be a mother and knew I would be a good, loving and caring parent. The moment I suspected I might be pregnant, I cleaned up my life, discontinued any unhealthy, self-destructive behaviors and began to rebuild my life in an effort to create a future for myself and my child.
Though I was a devoted parent who cared very much for her child, I continued to lack confidence in myself and had a difficult time with other areas of my life. The next several years brought a string of bad relationships, but also brought me the gift of one more daughter and a son. I earned my GED and started my own housecleaning business which, in turn, enabled me to put myself through college. You might not believe it but, despite the bad experiences I'd had in high school, I ultimately chose to become a teacher. I wanted to make a difference in the lives' of children and in 1996 I graduated from college and began my career as a middle school math teacher.
As the second half of the 90s continued, I was on the right track with my family, had a good, solid career where I was making a difference, but was still single. I'd had some good relationships and some bad relationships. I was engaged once but ultimately decided I wasn't ready for marriage. In 1999, I accomplished something I'd never dreamed I would accomplish as a young, single parent of eighteen years old: I bought my first home and moved my family to a more rural area for a fresh start.
The arrival of the new millenium brought a decade of transition and change. I left teaching to go into business, had children move out on their own, then move back home again and took myself off the dating market for a period of seven years after surviving a horrifically abusive relationship. During that seven years, for the first time in my life, I spent time getting to know myself. My daughters were independent and had grown to be wonderful, productive young women of whom I was very proud. My son was growing into a creatively talented young man with whom I could have conversations for hours. As the first decade of the new millenium drew to a close, it was time for me to start building a life for myself as an individual, rather than as a mom.
Friendships were something I'd never made lots of time for as a busy single parent. As I worked on embracing this new phase of my life a friend of mine encouraged me to become a member of Facebook. My kids were on Facebook and that was all I knew about it. I wasn't much for social media, nor did I care to spend a lot of time on the computer. But my friend urged me on almost to the point of being a pest and, to appease him and get him off my back, I finally caved in and registered for Facebook in May of 2009. Admittedly, I enjoyed reconnecting with friends I hadn't spoken with in awhile, some not since high school. Family members I hadn't seen in years were on Facebook, too, and I enjoyed connecting with them. Then, in June of 2009, I received a Facebook Friend Request that completely blew me away.
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