The early years, cont...

Lets see...I believe I left off with moving in to the new house on Chesterfield. I was talking about my dad being popular with the neighborhood kids. Continuing from that point, there were not many kids my age. There were two girls, one who lived directly across the street and one next to her, who were a few years older then me. I remember hanging out with them, until one of them moved (which I remember crying inconsolably about). After my only good friend in the neighborhood moved, we exchanged letters in the mail for a while and she would mail me the newest Pogs every once in awhile (you know you played too). Eventually we lost touch and I made new friends. (I suppose I will have to change the names to protect the innocent here). I met a girl named Jessie* who had a little brother that was around my brothers age. Jessie* and I used to play all sorts of games in our yards, using our imaginations to stay occupied. I remember one time we made up being abducted by aliens, who then violated us...we were probably 10ish at the time and probably didn't even think twice about it, but now it seems really, REALLY twisted. There were some kids on another cul-de-sac down the street. There was a girl Emily* who I was good friends with, and a boy David* that was her next door neighbor. He was my first real crush. Eventually though, they all moved away and I was left alone again. My second and third crushes (gorgeous identical twins...I remember the gorgeous part pretty well) moved in to Davids* house and we hung out some, but they were military brats and moved after 2 years. Next to the cul-de-sac that all of those kids lived in, there was a huge wooded area that stretched back to Coffee Bluff (which is now a gated community...stupid development) and in those woods was an old cemetery that was attached to a little church on Coffee Bluff. I spent most of my time in that cemetery; reading the headstones, connecting families, stacking back bricks on tombs that had been grave robbed, talking to the spirits, putting dead flowers and fake flowers back on the graves...I have a lot of memories of that cemetery. We also played around in those woods a lot, hiding from each other in these HUGE holes in the ground that we used to tell ourselves were from war times. I have good memories of playing with friends and being a kid when I was outside. Outside was the safest place.

The beginning...

It all started on June 24, 1986 at around 10 in the morning. My mother was wheeled in to the OR for a scheduled c-section to deliver me on my due date. I emerged from her womb at 10:08AM, apparently screaming at the top of my lungs and purple from the anger of being pulled from my safe place. There I was...Michelle Elizabeth Gallagher; 10 lbs 2 oz; 22 inches long. And so began the story of me. Our house was in Paradise Park on a street named Hoover Creek. It was a quaint duplex, just big enough for mom, dad and myself...and the cats Erika, Katie and Alex. I spent the first few years of my life in that house until sometime in 1990. My brother had been born just days prior to "the blizzard of '89". At that point, my mother apparently went a little crazy and tried to (or at least threatened to) kill my dad. She had SERIOUS PPD after Mike was born and even went away for a few days for observation (at GA Regional). My parents needed a bigger house, so after lots of looking they settled on a house on Chesterfield Dr. in Windsor Forest. It was a nice neighborhood with nice houses and nice looking people, and then "Here come the Clampetts (well, pretty damn close anyway)!" My family and our house was always the trashiest in the neighborhood. For some reason, the teens in the neighborhood enjoyed hanging out with my dad "Mr. G" in our garage; listening to Nirvana, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and the like. We had an above ground pool in the back yard around the time is was 6 or 7, and we had a basketball goal on the side of the house in the cul-de-sac (the Little Circle). There were stick ball bases spray painted on the street in the Little Circle. It seemed like a good situation on the outside. Looks can be decieving. To be continued...

The journey begins...

So I guess this is the part where I am supposed to talk about myself. I have a lot to say and I feel like I need to start saying it, so here it goes. I suppose I will start with my youth and work my way to the present. It is a long story with ups and downs and the like. I do not tend to care what people think about me, so I usually say exactly what I am thinking. I feel like this is a good chance for me to be brutally honest with myself, as well as get some things on the table. I do not even particularly care if anyone ever reads this, but if you do please comment with thoughts or any interjections. This will take some time, so follow me if you like it. Enjoy!