Even Through the Bad- I Still Got my Happily Ever After

So I realized that this Small Town Girl never wrote about my life- how I got where I am.

I'm from Ohio- a small little, brick road, four way stop sign town. It's Adena- you can find us on Facebook these days ;) There are about 800 people in the town I grew up in. Ty is always telling me that I forget where I came from. So I thought I'd just put it all out there.

I grew up poor and I don't mean I wasn't able to go on class trips poor- I mean I didn't have water or electricity poor. There were times during winter in OHIO we didn't have heat- life pretty much sucked. But I learned how to get by. I stayed with friends and borrowed their clothes. We were so poor that we didn't get new clothes often and at some point I reach that age of understanding that everyone else had much nicer stuff then me and that they were looking down on me because of that. So I worked from the time I was 11- babysitting or being a waitress. Whatever I could do to make money and be able to take care of myself I did.

When I was 15 my dad died. It was awful. I looked up to him and honestly he was the only person I had in my life that I could depend on. My mom- whom I love and has since become a better person, was more worried about catching up on the youth she missed out on then the babies she needed to raise. She did drugs, drank a lot and slept around a lot. I didn't have the best role model when it comes to females. So when my dad passed I felt like that one stable thing in my life was just riped away from me. I didn't know what to do or what to think. I lost my faith for a long time.

Those first two years was a dark time for me. I did a lot of things I'm not proud of mainly because I needed a way to not think about my dad. It hurt- I had never felt anything like that and I didn't want to deal with it. But eventually I realized I was doing a lot of bad things that was getting me nowhere fast. I was to smart for it so I decided to make a new start.

In January 2002 I transferred high schools. It was weird because the school I was districted for was about an hour away. The district line was about a mile away and that school was only 10 minutes away- so this would make my drive to school a lot easier. The first day of school I meet Daniel. He was and still is one of my very best friends. He is as sweet as can be and is one of those people you just feel safe with. His wife is one lucky girl! A few days later he invited me to the church to watch his friends practice with their "band". Yes band is in " " because they were a bunch of high school kids that couldn't get it together...lol. When I pulled up to the church Daniel and his friend from Utah were just getting out of the car. I looked at this guy and just knew I liked him. Yes it was Ty :). I can still remember what he was wearing- black jeans, navy independent hoodie and a independent beanie. He was so stinking cute. We didn't talk that much just passed glances throughout the night. Then on Monday at school he was in my class. See- I wasn't even aware he was staying. I thought he was visiting. And it just sparked from there- by March it was official- we were a couple. We stayed together throughout high school and 2 days after high school graduation I found out I was pregnant with Kadence.

After that Ty joined the army- and we left for Germany. That's where we had Colton.

I have been completely and totally in love with him since that day. We have had our ups and downs. We have broke up and got back together. We've been through it all. I'm not ashamed of it, I think it has only made us stronger.

You see this is the PG version of my life. I had a hard crappy life. Adena was nothing special to me but heartbreak. I endured so much while living there and no one ever helped. I think that's why I am pursing the degree I am- I want to help kids like me. I don't ever want a kid to feel alone. In a town of 800 everyone was talking about us but no one ever stepped up to help. I haven't forgotten where I'm from- there are just some things not worth remembering.

This deployment has made me realize something. I love my husband just as much if not even more then I loved him back them. From the moment I laid eyes on him I knew he was the one and I have never stopped thinking that. There have been times that I just wanted to throw things- but I would give anything to get those moments back. I would give anything to yell at my husband right now ;)