Home

It is funny that one of the topics for the week is "Home," because I have been think about my home a lot lately. I love my house, but I wish I had more of it to love. When Robert and I built the house I live in now, we had two children and I was a stay-at-home mom, and we planned to keep it that way. We moved into our house when Hope was four months old and Reese was 16 months old. We were sensible and did not go overboard; in other words, we went fairly small. We had an acre of land so we had plenty of room to add on later. We never made it to later. After seven years of marriage, when we were finally making some financial progress, Robert decided he wanted to be single again. After 5 years of being a stay at home mom, I was faced with some scary times. I lost our van, my financial security, and, at the time I believed, my future. I had to make some serious choices that have effected me even now. Although Rob is a great provider for the children now, he was not then. I could not track him down and get any money from him - he moved to Jacksonville when he left - and I had no money to file for divorce (and was too scared too; we always hold out hope) to get a judge to tell him to pay. I filed bankruptcy, gave up the van, but refused to include the house in any agreement. I would not give up my home. I went back to waitressing (the reason I am a great tipper), and worked hard and long hours to recover from financial ruin.

I decided to go back to school. A tough decision, because I was still working late into the night, taking care of three kids, and having to study. I declared my major as Early Childhood Education and set out to become a teacher. Even then, I hated the education classes and felt almost everyone involved were buffoons. It was when I took English 1102 that I found my second home. I read Barn Burning by William Faulkner and fell in love. I picked up everything he had ever written and made my way through it all - except Absolom, Absolum. I decided to go to Armstrong and change my major to English. Gamble Hall became my second home - I know many of you feel the same way. As I walk through those double doors and into the smelly hallway, I find love again. Love of books, friends, and even professors. I would not change a minute of what I have been through to get to the place I am today (except maybe the bankruptcy part, that has long term consequences). Soon, I will be adding that addition to my home - several years off schedule - but it will be mine, and I will have done it on my own.