Family Ties: Growing Up and the Experiences That Shaped Me

July 17, 2024

Dear Friend,

I hope this find you well. I know in my last letter I said I would be talking about middle school. Before I do I want to talk about my childhood more. While I struggled with communication and school was really difficult, I want to talk about my family some. I grew up with my parents, and three siblings, so there was four of us.

I remember each summer my parents would try to set up activities or different camps for all of us to go to. We would also go on a lot of family trips across country. My grandparents lived in California, so there were summers I would fly out on my own to visit them for a week. I was nervous about flying a lone, but at the time there were those in the airport who would escort me to my correct gates. I was never actually a lone between flights.

Each summer my dad would have a business trip to Arizona, when I got older, I would go with him. There was one summer my brother went, and the car we rented was a red sports car. I wish I had a photo to share. The following years it would be my dad and I on these trips. One thing about my dad, he loves hunting for unique rocks, gems, fossils, shark teeth, etc. While in AZ we would scope out different places known for such things. There was one trip we had to drive a lot, and Brittany Spears was really popular at the time. I had popped in and turned to Baby One More Time, and I had a stuffed animal with me. My dad took it and put it on the steering wheel as if it were driving. As the cars passed, the animal would look over and wave. People thought it was amusing, and I thought it was the best thing ever.

My dad and I have always been close. I enjoyed rock hunting with him, but I also really enjoyed fishing too. My brother and I would go on fishing trips with him. I think my favorite part when I was younger wasn’t so much fishing, it was the fact I got to pick out my own candy, and soda. The one place we often fished at; we would fish from the rocks on the side of the lake. I loved climbing the rocks, but I loved spending that time with my brother and dad.

A lot of our family trips would consist of rock, fossil, or even gold hunting. Of course we did other things

too. My grandparents being in California we’d go to Disney while visiting them. One year we went to Disney World in Florida, but we also went to some place called Devil’s Den. I didn’t do any diving, but I remember snorkeling, and then swimming after. It was a lot of fun, and I love anything water related.

I remember a lot of our family trips, I may not remember every detail, but there are several that stick out. Like our trip to England, France, and one year we went on a train overnight. The only thing I remember from that trip is getting off the train and feeling like I was still walking on the train. What’s funny is the family we were visiting had a trampoline, so I went from being on a train to jumping on the trampoline.

I did attend a few camps. When I got older, I went to an overnight camp, that was a week long. It was a horse camp. One thing about me I love animals. I rode a couple times, but it scared me when the horse went fast, which is weird for someone who has a real need for speed. But being someone who wasn’t very verbal, communicating to the horse wasn’t so easy for me. Instead, I loved brushing and petting the horses and just being around them. The camp was a co-ed camp, though the girls and boys didn’t share cabins.

My dad would travel for work a lot, leaving my mom at home with my siblings and myself. As I got older and entering puberty a lot of changes happened. I had a problem with impulsivity and doing dangerous things. Unlike the world today, beyond stranger danger, I wasn’t taught about predators. Or what to do in certain situations, such as grooming. I don’t blame my dad, but his absence made me seek out attention from older men. One year at this camp, a male counselor, 9 years older than me, talked me into sharing my information, and after camp we started an online relationship. Private because he told me to keep it that way.

I talked to this man for a while, he proclaimed his love to me, saying we’d run away together and get married. This lasted for several months, before my parents checked my messages and who I was talking to. At the time I was pissed off, my parents were livid. Of course, they knew the dangers, but I didn’t quite understand the level of seriousness. I liked the attention I got, and feeling special. I never returned to that camp, and I never talked to that man again after that.

This is only the start of my troubling behavior. I’ll get into this more in my next letter. Thank you for reading this.

Stay well,

Rebecca

P.S. The good we put into the world today, can be the change we see tomorrow