My Story {Part 2}

{Part 1}

As I drew closer to end of twelfth grade, I got the standard question, "What are you going to do when you graduate?"  I didn't have an answer so I'd mumble something about finding a job.  I had a job at the county library that I loved, but it only offered part-time hours and my parents said that if I was not going to school, I needed to work full-time.  As a child, I had wanted to be a nurse, but I had no desire to go away to school.   There were several colleges within commuting distance that offered a nursing program, but I wasn't sure that's what I wanted to do anymore.  What I really wanted was to find a man and get married, but in the meantime, my parents insisted I find a job or go to school.  "Do something," they said. 

When I turned sixteen, I had terrified of learning to drive so I was closer to eighteen before I finally got my license in the summer after I graduated.

After hemming and hawing all summer over what I was going to do, I finally enrolled full-time in community college, taking a bunch of general education classes.  I bought an old used car with incredibly low mileage  and I also kept my job at the library, working 20-25 hours a week.  Because I was going to school, I filled a lot of evening and weekend shifts where I was often scheduled to work with another college student, Brian.  It was during our winter break between the fall and spring semesters that we went on our first date-- out to dinner at Applebee's and to a church Christmas program.

My little sister, Kati, was five when Brian began to hang out at our house every weekend.  She loved to tag along wherever we went, whether it was to the corn maze or to Food Lion to grab a loaf of bread or on a walk in the woods. One evening we were kayaking and my dad fell into the shallow pond.  While Ryan and I stood on the shore laughing, Brian reached in a helped him out.  Kati dubbed him "Fisher-boy B" which she later shortened to "B" and the nickname stuck.  

During college, our relationship progressed until we were sure we wanted to get married as soon as we could support ourselves.  Right before my graduation from community college, I was hired for a full-time job in the college media center and I decided not to pursue a four-year degree.  In the week leading up to graduation, my mom started displaying some startling neurological symptoms and I even took her to the ER one morning, but they sent her home undiagnosed.  On the afternoon of graduation, Dad, Mom, Ryan, Kati, Brian, and my grandmother, watched me cross the stage, but I barely remember the ceremony.  What sticks in my mind instead is that at the reception following, my mom had a grand mal seizure and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and admitted to the ICU. 

The following days were torturous, as we were told my mom could have suffered permanent brain damage.  Ryan was supposed to leave the following week for college about six hours away.  He considered staying home.  I considered quitting the job I was scheduled to start in a few days, thinking I may be needed to care for my mom and my seven-year-old sister. 

We cried out to the Lord for my mom's health, and miraculously, she came out of the coma and was released from the hospital just over a week after she was admitted.  Though she was put on an anti-seizure medication and unable to drive for many months, there were no more neurological symptoms and no lasting damage.

part 3: ...then comes marriage, then comes baby(s) in the baby carriage