Cappy's Corner

MY STORY 70's to 80's

This decade takes me through the beginning of adulthood. The really scary part of life, a place even though great was full of decisions that actually made a difference in my life. The last couple of years of High School just ahead of me. Everything was changing, I didn't have to deal with bully's because the social structure had changed. I had joined the long hair group, the "hippies", I would quietly sneak off to parks and the beach, no one the wiser. Always enjoying recreational herbs and such, back then everything was organic, we were going green and didn't even know it. The age of love, peace and all that was upon us, yet we fought the institution, which had to include our parents. Anyone who wanted us to conform to their ideas was the enemy. Which also changed my family dynamic, I no longer wanted to hang out with the parents, even though I had fun, we were growing apart. Surging toward  individual directions, what ever that might be. One thing back then was the mind-set, we didn't think about making huge amounts of money and becoming successful, our goal was so much simpler than that, we worked toward a life of happiness. Everybody loved everybody. I guess we were too high to be anything but happy and hormonal.
My last couple of years of High School was on the work program, I worked at the Tropical Horse Race Track, as a hot walker and the afternoon was school time. Still made plenty of time for friends, my girl friends and I would compete for the cute guys and make bets on who would get them. I saw this one guy with black hair all the way down to his ass, he rode a motorcycle. I bet the girls that he would be my boyfriend by the end of the week. Well, I won the bet and we began dating. We had so much fun, riding around and going to parties, hanging out in tree-houses, going to Coconut Grove and hitch-hiking everywhere else.
Free love and all that happened, and thus pregnancy arose from that. We were in love and were married after a year of dating, soon enough so that the wedding dress didn't have a big bump in it. My parents were very supportive and my new in-laws were very strange to me. They didn't really speak good English, family had immigrated from Bogota, Colombia. After that summer it was time to go back to school, but my mind really wasn't into it, I was full of excitement and anticipation of my new little life growing inside of me. There wasn't really a lot of girls pregnant in High School in the 70's, I think I was the only one in my school. I was married though, some teachers didn't respect that I had the freedom to say and do what I wanted, they disapproved of my condition and made my last year miserable. Which lead me to drop out with only a half a credit in Government left to take. I didn't care, I was so big, sitting all day at a tight desk just wasn't the thing I wanted to do. The last year of High School now over, sitting in the bleachers watching my husband get his diploma, there I was with my beautiful new daughter. The world was mine, there was nothing that could complete my life more than that moment. Except, now what the hell do I do! Living life day after day, still hanging out with friends when we could. We were stuck living with in-laws and our first order of business was to get our own apartment. My husband was working and soon we moved to our own little apartment in Sweetwater, just off Flagler St. As the years passed we were just a normal young couple.
After time things became difficult, never understanding what we were arguing about. My husband would come home and smack me around. The first time it happened I just remember standing there taking it. I ended up with a bloody nose and a black eye. Things got better for awhile and we moved on to our own home. My husband worked hard, even though we struggled things were alright for the young couple. I thought that I would love to have another child, I enjoyed every minute with my little girl. We spent our time at the pool and doing things without compromising. Perhaps too young to know better, or perhaps we were just growing up together. She was my world, my daughter, the only one who really loved me, how would it be to have another such love. Without consulting my husband, I stopped taking the "Pill", and was pregnant in just a couple of weeks. My husband was stressed out all the time lately, working and going to school, with no tolerance toward me. There would be no perfect time to tell him that I was pregnant, so I just blurted it out. He left the house only to come back and stick a gun in my face. I learned then to stand up and be strong. I didn't want to be afraid of anything, so I just threw him out.
After the birth of his son, my husband was just the perfect person, but that time would be short lived. The slapping around continued, but I fought back by throwing dishes and squirting him down in the house with the garden hose. I was at the end of my rope with the abuse and was determined to do something about it. One night while he lay asleep in the bed, I straddled him and clenched my fists together, I punched him square in the face at least three times. It was a whole different story when he was the one looking in the mirror at his bloody face. He never touched me again, after that, the only draw back was that my young children saw everything, perhaps too young to know what was going on, it still had an adverse effect on them forever.
Four years of our marriage had passed and on a camping trip I found out that my husband preferred men to women, things just weren't the same. We were still in love and thought that we should stay together for the sake of the children, bad mistake. I went on with my life, we took turns going out and watching the kids, we lived separate lives. Frustration was building until we finally called it quits after another three years.
I began working a job and made another bet about getting a guy. It was my boss, before the divorce was complete my new man and I were making a trip cross-country in his pick-up truck. My family took care of the kids while I was off exploring the country.
Our trip was not without problems, my new man brought his best friend, which I couldn't stand. I should have jumped on a bus and went home, but I was so excited about all the beautiful scenes and different landscape, I couldn't bare to leave this adventure full of freedom and excitement. As we began crossing from state to state things were fun, when arriving at the Grand Canyon and his friend said how good I would look at the bottom of the canyon, left a real sour tone from that point on. The rest of the trip was full or arguments until we finally got rid of him somewhere in Arizona. I think the first time I left the country, was when crossed the border to Mexico for a little shopping trip. I also got to visit my long lost sister who was living there at the time. An opportunity to have someone on my side. The whole trip was designed for us to find a place to live that would make me happier, a place that would be better than South Florida. Found a place in Washington state and stayed for awhile, thinking that it might be the place, but after days full of cloudy weather and rain, I only wanted to get the hell out. Good thing I did, because Mt. Saint Helen's blew its top 3 days after I left (May 1980). I caught transportation out of there alone, the important reason was to get home in time for my divorce. After visiting almost every state, I admitted to myself that there wasn't one more suited to my lifestyle than good ole Florida. After a fun year of dating, I was married at the Coral Castle to husband #2. The marriage started out with a couple of problems, first at the wedding when my purse was robbed and all my important documents gone. A crazy rush to replace them for the Honeymoon to Aruba. All the indications I ignored, I even got sick as a dog in Aruba and nearly died from poison. Not paying attention to Karma.
We moved out to the Redlands, because he had big ideas, businesses and big houses, you know the type. The only thing wrong with that is he didn't earn the money he brought home, and always put things off  and off and off..
I was in the prime of my life, I had lots, a had my own pony, 2 great Danes, and numerous exotic pets. That was my happiness, my kids loved living in the country, driving around their ATVs all over the tomato fields. Then came the motorcycle, I had a bad feeling about this thing since day one. As an adventurer I thought that this feeling was not normal for me. Still, every time I got on that thing I just felt uneasy.
We began to travel, we went to and island in the Bahamas, called Spanish Wells, what fond memories me and my children have there. Always delaying the flight home, to take a scuba class or just have one more day of fun. My husband did some business there in the landscape department, so we would again have an opportunity to travel back to the Bahamas. I made so many friends there, and so did the kids, they had their own place to hang out. I never really had to watch them, after all, where could they go on an island!
I guess I found  the place in the world that I loved the most, the islands of the Bahamas. The people were just amazing, the freedom and the fresh air was beyond comprehension. I was surrounded by the beautiful sea.

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