Hi my name is Julie.
I'm not an ex member but please let me explain why I'm posting here.
I was born and raised in south Georgia....USA I suppose for some.
I am the third of four girls....82, 83, 84, 88. On my mothers side....my aunt also has four girls, my uncle has four and another aunt has three girls and a boy. My cousins and I are all close in age and we were lucky enough to grow up knowing all of them as playmates.
My sisters and I lived on fourty acres. We had horses roaming freely and Mom bred mastiffs as well as broke in horses for other people. Dad worked for his families business in heating and air.
We attended a baptist church where my granny (dads mom) sang in the choir. Dads aunts.....my great aunts and uncles sat in the pews with us. I remember falling asleep on aunt Mary many times. My cousins I spoke of earlier were in my Sunday school classes with me.
My great grandparents lived ten minutes away (dads moms parents). My great grandfather had made the blueprints and built his home himself. It was a large, two story, Spanish style house, with many rooms and balconies. My grandmother was always cooking so the house always smelled good. My grandfather had built her a breakfast room in the kitchen with nothing but windows for walls and outside the windows he had planted a rose garden. The house was always filled with sunlight and music. We had pianos to play on and a creek to explore or dress up in grandmas old clothes. Grandpa grew his own vegetables and for some reason, really loved irises.... which were planted everywhere. My fathers father were their neighbors....so we could walk through one back yard and into another.
I'm in no way bragging....just trying to give you a feel of my life.
Now, the summer before kindergarten one of my mothers brothers came to visit from Florida along with his wife. Mark and Michelle. They had no children. They were asked to babysit us along with my aunts daughters. So eight girls and two adults.
I remember sitting on the floor watching Bambi with my sisters and cousins when Mark asked to speak to me. He said that he and Michelle were tired and wanted to take a nap. Could they use my room? I said sure but let me clean it up real quick and make my bed. (I had a queen size bed because I shared the room with my little sister). After that I sat back down to watch the movie. Then they called one of my older sisters into the room, said they had to talk to her and shut the door. I thought it was weird because they said they were tired but eventually I became lost in the movie again. When they finally came out the movie was almost over. I remember thinking...Jody missed the whole movie. Mark just stood there smiling at us with Michelle on one side scowling....she always scowled and jody on the other with his arm around her. She wouldnt look at any of us, just stared at the floor. Then he states...."well, I'm going to get candy but only Jody's getting any". I remember looking at all of them, trying to puzzle it all out. I knew something was off but not what it was.
After that Mark got permission from mom to take me and jody to Florida with him and Michelle. I don't remember anything about Florida except getting there. I had fallen asleep in the car and mark had taken me into the house, I woke to jody running into the room saying "guess what, I got to play in the rain". I jumped up and yelled "you left me alone with him"? Not even knowing why, I remember feeling shocked that I had said it. I feel bad about yelling that at her now. I remember nothing else of Florida. Only getting back home and Mom yelling at Mark because she had to take me to the er. I was so sun burnt, I had man fist sized water blisters on my sides and back. I remember hearing Mom ask him why he didn't put sunblock on me and him yelling back "she wouldn't let me touch her!"
Things didn't come out in the open till school started back. Jody had been passed a note from one of her friends stating that she felt bad because shed just told her family that someone was molesting her. Jody wrote back I understand, my uncle is doing it to me too and the teacher intercepted the note.
All hell broke out then. Moms mother called jody a liar, she talked mom into signing some paper where no charges were pressed on mark nor Michelle and they don't have to register as sex offenders.
Dad wanted to kill him. But Mom stopped him. Dad got bad on beer and drugs after that. Mom and dad would fight all the time....I mean fight, dad broke moms nose twice, mom broke dads arm. Mom and her siblings are all pretty big brawlers. Eventually things got too bad. Mom left dad and we moved around...a lot.
Dad (David) died in 2000 in a one vehicle accident. Everything he owned was in his truck. Jody and I went to the scene of the accident and got all of his stuff from his truck. We found two photo albums. One with pictures of his daughters and other people he loved. The other was nothing but pictures of Mom.
We all love Mom. I don't think she ever doubted....I think the whole thing just tore her up and was almost too much to take in. Plus we've put her through some shit and she never gives up on us.
I've read how hard it is on some of you. I have to say I understand. I think I was meant to be Jody's "shadow" for a reason. There are moments when I know she's in that "dark" place mentally. I've almost lost her a few times. I could never imagine a life without my sister. I hate the hell she is in and will always go through because of this. The small things that can trigger a memory. Being in public and constantly evaluating everyone.....especially if your children are with you. The amount of stress and anxiety alone is crushing.
I think, my great grandparents were a wonderful example of a heaven on earth and mark and Michelle a perfect example of an unnecessary evil, the kind that just needs weeded out....thrown in the sun to dry up and never come back.
One thing I appreciate the most though was how much free will we were given. Messing with a childs mind is twisted....messing with anyone like that is twisted. In fact, the whole thing is twisted.
I wish the best of the best for all of you!
Sincerely with love,
Julie