Apt 2G
By
My parents divorced when I was very young. I remember moving to an apartment complex “Rolling Meadows” when I was about to start the third grade and I lived there until I was in tenth grade. They were lower income apartments, so I got to experience more than the average person. I remember a shooting, a guy with a gun on a car, guys getting busted for growing weed in the fields and much more. Before you say “how sad”, what I really remember was how much fun I had living there. I remember my friends, Phil, Randy, Rodney, David, and Kris. We all loved sports and they consumed our lives. It didn’t matter if it was a 100 degrees outside or if it was freezing cold. We still played football, basketball, baseball, golf and one year we played hockey on the ice with sticks and smashed soda cans – that was a blast!
My friend Phil was 2 years older than me and he was the leader of the group. He kept me out of trouble and pushed me to be the best I could be in sports. I know he was only 2 years older but he was my mentor/father figure. I spent the majority of my time with him. I could have easily chosen the wrong path, but God placed Phil in my life for a reason. I could have easily been smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, drinking or just getting in trouble, but I didn’t. Phil didn’t have to say a word, all he had to do was look at me in a disappointed way and I would change my behavior.
Has there been in a time in your life where it could have been bad, but God put someone around you that made it good? I know everything is meant to glorify God. We just don’t see it at the time it is happening, but sometimes we see it years later.
My father left my mom, my two older sisters, and me when I was six months old. (My oldest sister was 6.) At the time, we were living in a motel in California, where they paid by the week. My mom had to call her parents in Oklahoma and ask them to wire her the money for us to come home. We lived with my grandparents until I was 2 1/2, when my mom married my stepdad. They’re still married today. He adopted us when I was about four, so we have his last name. My stepdad is my dad. He’s the only father I’ve ever known…and he’s been a great one, better than anyone deserves. My biological father was married at least 5 more times. He still moves around the country, and to this day, he seems to have a hard time settling in anyplace. I’ve only met him twice in my life—once when I was 11, and then just a few weeks ago in July, at my sister’s wedding. I can’t imagine what kind of a man I would be today if he and my mom had tried to stay together “for the kids.”
Wow Brannon thanks for sharing. What an awesome stepfather you have?
Playing ice hockey on the pond, playing in the creek in the entrance to the apartments. How about sliding down the hill on the 12th street bridge? I still think the trails were awesome and is something that a lot of kids need now.
Yeah, we did experience a lot there, but you know I think in the long run, it helped us become better people. Most that I remember from there all had broken families, most that I have kept in touch with are successful in their lives. I think this is a product of our up-bringing, and their teachings that it isn’t about what we have, but what we do with what we have.