I am now known as a Cardiac Survivor. By sharing my story, I would like to believe that all of the challenges I have had to overcome in my life, including a major heart attack, could help others find ways to overcome the challenges they may be facing. My desire is to help others find their way forward no matter what obstacles in life they may be facing through my story of New Beginnings and My Life Remembered.
When I came into this world I do not believe anyone in my family circle could have predicted how I would grow up to be who I am. Life in a small North Carolina town in the 50’s and early 60’s was pretty limited to what my grand parents brought to the table from their life experiences and what my parents would have me exposed to during my younger years. I think I was pretty normal up until my grandfather’s passing. After that my life changed dramatically.
While growing up I always loved to explore architecture and building model cars. But I would not build the car in the box. I took the parts and created my own model by adding different looks created with plastic and epoxy. My engines were wired to look like the real thing. Did some really cool stuff. I used to have pictures of my models but they have been lost. With my love for architecture, I would draw floor plans of houses that I would like to build one day when I was older.
Also, being a teen in the late 60’s and early 70’s would become my profound development years, with experiences that some would say are way too dark along with some experiences no teenager should ever have to go through, but I did, and am here to share them in my story.
So, I was born in 1955 in North Carolina and at my birth became a member of the Baby Boomer Generation. I lived in North Carolina until the summer of 1964. We moved after I completed the 3rd grade of elementary school. My younger years growing up in Mount Airy, a small town where Andy Griffith came from was not unusual and I have many good memories from this time. The only dark memory that I currently recall came during the late spring of 1964. I will share this memory later in my story.
Sometime during the middle of summer in 1964, we left Mount Airy and headed west to Phoenix, Arizona. Phoenix during this time period was a small city in a vast desert basin, and it was very hot. We lived here for less than a year. Something happened while I was in the 4th grade and the move happened quickly. I will share this event later in my story as well.
We moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, another small city at that time, in a desert basin, and it was hot too. You might think my family was in the military but we were not. I think the moving had something to do with escape and avoidance when I look back on this time period as an adult. A lot happened growing up through my teenage years in this city. Much of this impacted me first in a good way, and then in a way that was not so good.
Ultimately, I did move to Southern California and completed my teenage years there. After my teenage year’s life became somewhat complicated and set into motion my questions of self-esteem, whether I had any intelligence, and could I succeed in life. All good seemed to turn to bad. These feelings created big challenges for me. I always questioned my confidence in what I could do and could I do it right.
Oh, and back to my earlier love of architecture. I always wanted to become an Architect. This love of architecture has been very important in my life, and has always brought me back to finding my way forward even during the worst of times.