Day Four

OK, so this is the first time that I have ever blogged or written about my life, but I am hoping that it will be cathartic in some way. My writing skills may not be what they once were but I will try my best. As for the title of this post being 'Day Four', that is because this is officially my fourth day of being sober. It may not sound like much, but to me, it means everything. However, I feel like I should probably start from the beginning.

I was born into the military, in San Jose, back in 1977. My mother is a beautiful half- European/half-Mexican woman, born in Utah but raised in San Jose, and she is also an extremely religious woman. My father, on the other hand, was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is mostly Irish(which some would say contributes to my drinking problem) with a little English sprinkled in. My father was, and still is, very not religious, but I'll get to that later. Most people would probably expect me to say now how my parents were abusive, but that just was not the case. My parents loved and still do love me and my sister very much, and except for the occasional spanking with the leather belt, we were not abused in any way. Even though my father always did threaten to get the belt with the meat hooks in them, which of course, he never did produce. And my mother liked to spank me with a wooden spoon, until I learned that if I flexed my butt at just the right time I could break the spoon in half. I thought it was hilarious, my mother, not so much.
My parents met when my father was working as a mechanic for the Army, stationed at Ft Ord. I don't really know much about their early days or their romance that led up to the marriage, I have a feeling that it wouldn't be a very good subject to bring up. All I know is that less than a year later I was born. Shortly thereafter, we were stationed at Ft Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Or maybe I should just say we were living in Mexico. I don't really remember much from those times, although my sister was born there, I learned to ride a bike, and I was bit badly by a neighbor's dog. I also remember seeing my first solar eclipse and I saw the hatching of the cicadas, which only hatch once every 17 years. For some reason those are the memories that stuck with me from my time there. Maybe the rest has been erased by all my years of partying. Who knows? Maybe through the course of writing this I will regain some of those lost memories.
Anyway, while we were in Texas, my father applied for and was accepted to the Army's Warrant Officer Candidate School. We then moved to Ft. Rucker, Alabama. By this time I was in first grade, I don't really remember much about this time either, because we were only there for a year while my father completed flight school. Although, I do remember how red the dirt was and how it stained everything, and how I was made to sing 'All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth', in the school Christmas play. Which I think has made me nervous in front of large groups ever since.
After this brief time in Alabama my father got stationed in Korea, which is a one year tour but you cannot bring your family with you, so, we moved in with my Nonie, my father's mother in Cambridge. Again, this was another brief stay, only a year, and my memories from this time include living in the snow for the first time and having to walk what seemed like miles to get to school, but when you are in the second and third grade how much can you remember? After my father's tour in Korea, we were off to Hawaii. This is probably the best part of my childhood that I can remember. But, I will leave that for tomorrow.