365 Days of Impacts

I never physically had kids myself. While this may be a true statement, I do have kids. They come from another mother. They are all very different and beautiful in their own ways. The first born was Katherine Pamela Williams, I call her Kate. But she goes by Kat. And sometimes Katherine. Never Kitty. But she lets me call her Kate. She is the one that emphatically reminds me that I DO have kids. I appreciate that - because it is hard to come into a relationship with someone who has kids and establish yourself as anything more than a friend, let alone a mother 'figure'. Or worse, the step MONSTER. Kate and I had a slow start - she was the last of the three kids to have met me, and she was very methodical and deliberate in her desire to wait to meet me. I was actually thankful for it, because it was nerve racking. The day we met, she was cleaning the kitchen in Dennis' apartment, which she had recently moved into with him. I didn't know what to expect. I ...

I went to Clinton Valley Elementary School. It was roughly 4 miles from my house at 16 Mile and Groesbeck. I rode the bus every day along with the other kids. I had many great memories at this school. So much was learned during this 6 years of my life. One thing that is important to know is I was a HORRIBLE student in kindegarten and particularly first grade. I cried almost every day before school because I didn't want to go. I would throw tantrums that literally frustrated my mother to no end. When I was in Kindergarten, my parents went to the Bahamas with my Uncle Bert and Aunt Dawn, and they left my maternal grandmother Nana in Michigan to take care of us. I threw myself down on the sidewalk every day before school in a baby crying fit tantrum. Nana didn't know what to do. I think one of the days she let me stay home - but when mom called to check in, she made Nana make me go. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Seppela sat down and cried with me one day in exasperation...