Childhood

I'm sure we all know that our childhood has a lot to do with our mental health as adults. My childhood wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad, either. Regardless, I struggle with things I've had to deal with as a child. I think my biggest struggle is with emotional intelligence. My parents didn't have emotional intelligence, as they had never learned it, so I never learned it.

I had some struggles with traumas, as well. When I was very young I was molested; from before I can remember until I was eight. I was also in a rather rough household. My parents divorced when I was still a baby; I don't even remember them ever being together. My mom met my first step-dad while still married to my father, and I grew up calling this man "dad."

Steve, my first step-dad, was a very rough man. He was a physical punishment kind of guy. My older brother got the worst of it, but I still have a few memories of being hit. The memory that I can recall the most is when I was six or seven years old. We had just seen the movie "Dante's Peak" and it had absolutely terrified me. Despite living in Michigan, I was sure that a volcano was going to erupt beneath our feet.

Worse than the thought of a volcanic eruption was the idea that volcanoes could affect the water. I was terrified that I would take a bath and be boiled alive, or that it would turn to acid and eat away my flesh. Anyway, back to Steve. I was taking a bath one day and, absolutely certain that something would happen to kill or hurt me, I was crying. Steve came into the bathroom, yanked me up by my wrist, and spanked my naked ass. I don't remember my mother intervening, but she claims that she did.

In fact, I don't remember my mother intervening on much, until he hit her. Then she finally left him. It wasn't until near that time that I had even known he wasn't my father, but I suppose that made it easier when she did leave him. We had already lived in three different homes with my mother, so another move wasn't that difficult. In fact, it was kind of nice, because now we had a cute little house on the lake.