Well lets see where was I? oh yes living in marry easter fl. We did fine there for awhile. I had even gotten a job at the officers club that was on the beach as a janitor.I loved that job it wasnt realy hard to do and I was on the beach lol. The chief would let me hang around the kitchen in my slow time and yep he taught me a little about cooking. cooking was never something i realy got into as a teenager I did not have the time I had to be outside all the time. But your mother sure did like some of my new ways lol. After awhile your grandpa robert and i started having problems. He started staying away more and more I knew something was up but he would never say and it eventaly led us to seperate so your mom and greg and me moved to arlington texas where your great grandpa and grandma Laviner was living. I got a job at the mobil station off of I20 and collings street. I worked 3rd shift. Partly so i would be home to help your mom get to school and partly because i was pregnet with your uncle bobby. And it was sun-thru so it worked out well.We loved friday nights. I was off and your great grandparents went bowling so we had the whole house to ourselfs. your uncle greg was realy into watching restling so we would order a pizza from Mr.Jims and watch the Von Erics rule the wresting world at that time.In dec i found out i was having a boy so your grandpa robert came back and we tried to work things out so off we go we moved into a house of our own. We were both working for mobile and finacaly doing good so we moved into an apartment complex it was called indian creek right down the street from where we worked and my Aunt Bette(your great -great Aunt) would watch your mom for about an hour a day till i got home and your dad would get ready to go to work. we worked different shifts so one of us would be home with you most of the time. Your mom realy loved her great aunt! She was always drawing things for her. See your mom was the only grandgirl on both sides of the family for years!!! till she was about 12 so yep she was spoiled!!She was everybody's girl! Stuborn, stood her ground,but most of all loving!!! she would give a cochroach the shirt off of her back if he needed it.   

ok lets see where was i lol. When your mom was 2 and Greg was about 6 months we moved to marry easter fl not far from pensacola but it was closer to the beaches. Grandpa got a job as a machinisht and the shop was right behind the appartments. In fact you could see him while he was working sitting on the back steps. We lived on the top floor. There was a fence between the appartment and the shop. Your mom would wait on the steps every night at 5pm as she knew thats what time her daddy got off of work and she could watch him walk home. I remember one day she had gone outside to play with the little boy that lived below us she come running up the stairs hollering "momie momie now you got to close your eyes and hold out your hands",wich i did as i thought she would have flowers her being a girl. well she had placed in my hands the biggest bull frog that i had ever seen! I must have jumped 3 feet lmao. so we talked for a little bit and I finaly convinced her that Leo(its what she named him) would be better off living outside so i took an old dish pan that was under the sink and we made a little pond for him at the bottom of the steps right under the little crep mertal tree. She would check every day when she got up to make sure that there was enough water in the pond and that his little rock house was not falling down. In the summer months she often checked the pound 2 or 3 times a day. That frog stayed there for a couple of years!.He would even get a few friends to visit from time to time. I would often make a pinic lunch and the 3 of us would eat lunch by Leo's pound. When The hurricans would come i would let her bring Leo into the house in a little box that i had gotten for him.I think that was her bestest {as she would say} pet she ever had. We always had fish tanks but Greg seemed to enjoy them more then your mom did.Your moms favorit charector then was stawberry short cake. Her whole bedroom was done in it! and that was about the only tv show she would watch to. Your mom just would rather be outside more then anything. A lot of times I would have dinner ready and packed up and go down to the beach when grandpa got off of work just so i know that she would eat lol. Her second favorit place was what else McDonalds. we had one with in walking distance right around the block with a play ground so we were there quite a bit to lol. And she sure loved it when granny Vance would come visit! Boy that was just the bomb as the would say back then! And even better if she got to go stay with her for a few days. She loved her granny and papa! They will always hold a special place in my heart as you will read about later on!

Well now along came your uncle greg lol and kathy loved being a big sister! After all She is 2/12 and walking great and oh boy back to the beach swimming again. We would still go when she was in the body cast but only very early in the morning before it got to hot she couldnt swim but she sure liked the sand lol.  Your uncle Greg turned to be a water lover to (lol wonder where they got that from). Like your mom he was in the water and swimming before he could walk or crawl!. Secne Greg learned to walk at and talk at 6 months him and your mom got along great!. They would do everything together. But when your mom started school she started making friends and then your uncle followed her 2 years later with school. even though they made new friends they still did a lot together. I remembered when your mom got her ears pierced. lol She was about 2 and she did not even cry! She let that lady know that she wasnt going to do that again but she did not cry. After wards your grandpa robert and i took her out for an icecream. She realy thought she was just it with the earrings. She had to have her hair tied up cause she wanted everyone to see that she was a princes who would were girls cloths but play like a tom boy lol and enjoy her barbee dolls and tea partys. Her best friend lived right next door to us. Your mom and uncles also loved their granny vance!! She is the best! We often had to live with them as it was hard for grandpa Robert to find a job and figure out what he wanted to do with hes life as we were both so young. 18 and 20 although at the time we thought we knew it all it turned out that we did not. I didnt work much then as it was costly to put kids in daycare or hire a babysitter so we were not realy making headway with me working and of course i did not want to be away from kathy and greg to long. To this day when i miss kathy so much i will go sit at the beach for hours as thats where i feel at peace and feel her still in my heart.I pitcher us out there swimming together with the dolphins as we so muched liked to just go and watch them with tides to feed.We would often talk about what we would do if we were out there with them and what it would be like to be free like they are. Kathy thought that would be heaven! She would tell me God gave us dolphins to make us feel happy when we are feeling blue.

 Pensacola was a great place! It was a combination of military and beach and oh boy did she love the beach. At 6 weeks old was your mothers first time in the water and she sure loved it!! We would go early in the morning or late in the evening so she wouldnt burn. Then at about 4 months old on her regular doctors visit he discovered that her left hip was not right and took some x-rays and her let leg bone did not form in the hip socket it had formed on the outside of it so she had to have surgery. It took a total of 2 years and 3 surgerys to fix her leg right. But it never seemed to bother her. She had a full body cast on for about 2 months and then they let half of the right leg from the knee down be uncovered. she could bend that knee so the fun began. she could sit in the walker and swings. she loved to sit in the swing and watch the fish in the aquirium.Just like you did shawn lol.In fact your first word shawn was fish. She would even learned to crawl on the carpet by holding the carpet fibers and pulling herself bodycast and all across the carpet. She was a very strong baby that lead her to be a very strong girl and a strong willed grown up. She never stopped loving the beach it was always her favorit place. She got the body cast off when she was 2 and how she learned how to finaly walk was because she got tired of Jay(your 2nd cousin) taking her toys away. Once she learned how to walk there was no stopping her!!. She was left handed also. She aslo loved to ride her bike or hotwheel as that was the thing then. she would follow her uncle Gean and hes friend around the coldersack and would ride hard. by then your uncle greg was born.she loved her brother and would help me with him all the time. I remember one time she was outside playing and came running hollering momie close your eyes. she had something hidden in her hands behind her back. So I closed my eyes and held out my hands thinking it was some flowers after all she was a girl. Nope wrong anwser lol. She had put this biggest slimmest green bull frog in my hand that i had ever seen!!! she was so proud of that frog and named it Hennery. I did talk her into keeping Hennery outside. we made a little pond for him and he stayed there for a long time.Yep you guessed it she would catch the bugs to feed it with to lol.She was not scared of anything or anyone. From the begging she always thought the best about a person and never liked at their faults.

to be continued.