Back To Tennessee

I was in my second year at the California School for the Blind and things were still going great. I was doing well in class, and I had a social life as well.  Then my mom started tossing around the idea of moving back to Tennessee.  We had lived there once back in 1989 for about 6 months.  My brother was becoming very successful in his aftermarket automotive repair career, in other words… mechanic. He had a nice home, a beautiful wife, and they were about to have their first child.  If we moved to Tennessee it would help them by having Mom there to babysit Olivia during the day while they were at work.

I wasn’t opposed to this idea because I liked Tennessee. To this day I consider myself a sophisticated redneck.  Tennessee is my home for all intensive purposes. It was difficult to say goodbye to all my friends, but it would give Mom and I the best opportunity to become independent.  At this point I was living at the school as much as I could.  I had a very unhappy home life.

We lived with a friend of my mom’s by the name of Linda.  Linda and I did not get along.  I was a punk kid who wanted to just listen to music, watch TV, and, if the opportunity presented itself, have fun.  Unfortunately, Linda did not share my carefree attitude and insisted that I do silly things like chores, yard work, and worst of all, be respectful.  So we butted heads.  We have since mended our relationship.  I wouldn’t say we’re friends, but we have a mutual respect for each other.  It’s amazing what a little time and maturity can do for a person, Linda is much nicer now

I don’t remember exactly when we moved, but it was in the middle of the school year and just after Christmas if I’m not mistaken. It was 1995 I do know that.  The hard part of all this was the fact that Mom and Linda had started a business together, the Avon Emporium.  Yeah they sold Avon stuff, but other stuff as well. Things like handmade crafts, and whatnot.  Anyway, Mom was the silent partner so she didn’t have a hold in the company. As far as I’m aware she didn’t skip out on bills or anything like that, but we did leave without telling Linda.  I’m not sure of the details as to why we did the move this way, but Mom felt it was necessary and at 16, I wasn’t going to argue. Well, to be honest, at the time I thought it was kind of funny. I don’t think it was the right way to handle it anymore. I’ve grown up since then, and I would have talked to Linda before leaving like we did.

Now at the time, I was staying at school during the week and only went home on the weekends. I was avoiding even this time at home if I could.  Not so much because of Linda, but because there were too many people to deal with at the house.  Check this out:

• Linda
• Big Bobby (Linda’s Boyfriend)
• Tammy
• Jacobb
• Mary
• Jamie
• Tom
• Tina (a cousin)
• Tina’s husband
• Their three kids

I know that’s a lot of math so I’ll make it easy for you.  If I was home it was a total of 13 of us. All in a 1200 square foot house.  Mom, Jacobb, and I shared the garage, which was not suited for living in.

I had mentioned earlier that Mom had raised Jacobb off and on.  Well, as the time to move came closer and closer, Mom was working with Tammy to take Jacobb with us.  It was a difficult battle. After all, who would want to give up their child to someone that was going to take him to a completely different state more than halfway across the country?  Somehow Mom convinced not only Tammy, but her ex husband as well.  So it would be three of us making the trek to Tennessee now, not just Mom and I.

So, it came to happen that Linda went to work early one morning, Mom and I went to get a U-Haul, then with the help of Big Bobby, Tammy, Tina, Tina’s husband and the kids we loaded it up in like 4 or 5 hours.  We didn’t have a lot of stuff, but we had to pack on the fly so it took longer than it should have.  At around 2 or so in the afternoon, we left California for the last time, well at least for some of us. Jacobb moved back to California about ten years later.

It took about 5 days to drive the 3,200 miles to Johnson City, Tennessee where my brother lived. I remember it being a fun trip, but wishing at the time, and even still today that we had more time to see some of the sights on the way.  We went through a lot of famous areas. But it was probably for the best that we didn’t stop anywhere. The trip was exhausting.  When we finally got to Johnson City we were sitting on E, and were completely broke, we had absolutely no money at all, not even a penny. But we had arrived, and it was time for our new life to begin.

1. A Small History Lesson	2. Congratulations It’s A Freak
3. The First Five Years	4. It All Goes Up In Flames
5. School Daze	6. Say What?
7. A New Hope	8. Becoming A Sophisticated Redneck
9. A New Beginning – Literally	10. Back Into the Fray
11. They Like Me, They Really Like Me	12. 10011001
13. Let the Music Heal Your Soul	14. Taking My Sister to the Prom
15. My First Love, My First Broken Heart	16. From Zero to Hero
17. Livin’ On a Prayer	18. Moving On
19. Going Full Circle	20. The Rockford Files
21. Faith of the Heart	22. Partner, Friend, Lover, Wife
23. Turns Out She Was Right	24. A One-Legged Bear
25. Another Victim of the Game	26. Payin’ Bills with my Skills
27. A New Revell-ation	28. A New Page, A New Day
29. R We There Yet?