I am married to my High School sweetie that I met when I was 15. We are celebrating 30 years of marriage in April!
I was raised in the big city by an unmedicated bi-polar mom and a dad who was uninvolved. My saving grace was that we lived on an acre lot and had animals. My grandpa got me bantams when I was little and I spent all of my time either sitting in the chicken coop or the pony shed so I did not have to be in the house with the parents.
My Grandma Nettie was a big inspiration to me as well. In addition to providing me with love and home cooked meals, she was often doing things like making her own soap or grinding her own sausage. She inspired me to learn to cook my own food when I was quite young, instead of relying on a messed up parent who would often forget to feed me.
In some important ways my upbringing has made me a success. The more my parents told me I could not do something or made fun of my attempts to stand on my own feet - the more determined I would get! I have now finally reached a point in my life where I can begin to see God's perfect plan in all of this. I am a teacher now and I have been able to use the lessons that I have learned from my childhood home life to help lots of other kids that were also stuck between "a rock and a crazy place" (to quote Sheldon on Big Bang Theory).
Enjoy your new freedom and your new love. Drink in the little successes that you make. Everyday you will get better and better and learn more and more about this wonderful interesting life that we have chosen!