| Hi everyone, glad to be here.
Introductions...not my best topic, so you may want to settle in, grab a drink,and something to snack on. Because this may take a while. Hello I'm Amber. I am 29 years old. I am a single mother of three beautiful girls. Jessamyn is 10, Akiryanna is 4 and Krissalyn is 3. I am in the process of getting divorced from my husband of 5 years.I take care of my disabled mother who currently resides with me and my girls.
I come from a very rough background. I was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the fall of '76. My mother says I am a Christmas present due to my conception on Christmas eve. In truth I am a result of my drunken mother and her infatuation with a married cheating drunk who was already expecting my brother Chris in Feb. My father as far back as I can remember was and is always drunk. My mother went out of her way to make sure I knew my father. But as things in that little town got worse she got married and we moved to Cincinnati. Where I grew up a normal shy child until the year I turned 9.
That was the time in my life that people started seeing me as older than I was.That was the summer my father allowed me my first alcoholic beverage. The following year when I turned 10 my stepfather started molesting me. The abuse continued until I was 14. At which time my school counselor intervened. I was put in a crisis center where my mother took my step-father's side and turned her back on me. Even against both her and my requests I was returned to her once my step father moved out. This was another changing moment in my life. We moved from all I knew to the hometown that was never home, back to Michigan.
Being from an alcoholic father and a mother who couldn't stand to look at me I was set free to make my own rules and choices about life. I drank constantly and when I wasn't drinking I was contemplating dead at my own hands. I tried to commit suicide 5 times over a 6 year span. At 17 I got into a physical fight with my mother and the cops were called. Once again I was removed from my home. In the youth home they decided I needed to be sent to treatment. My life started to turn around at that point. At 18 I found out I was pregnant with Jessamyn. To this day she will never know how she saved my life. My thoughts changed from me, me, me to her. My mother and I made amends and are closer now than ever before.
My life changed a lot but the bad choices were still my down fall. I married a drug addicted man who's biggest excuse for it was tourette's syndrome. We had 2 children together and life got worse and worse. After 5 years of drugs, alcohol, verbal and physical abuse and many promises of "things will be better" I got out.
Things are much better on my own. I am happy, caring and compassionate again. I saw my father for the first time in 9 years this past memorial day and for the first time in my life I saw him while he was sober. My life is good and my theory is that no matter what happens to a person if it doesn't kill you it will only make you stronger. I am proof of this.
Looking back at my life I would not change anything. It made me who I am today- a good mother, a caring daughter, and a independent person. So even though I may not have any training to give advice, I have had a lot of life experience. Looking forward to talking to all of you.
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