When we got to our Florida home, it was beautiful. We had an extra bedroom than our NJ home and it was all together - bigger. Mom built an inground pool in the back which we took advantage of a whole lot in the beginning. In NJ my mother put us through swimming lessons so Rob, Jeny and I knew how to swim. We taught Sarah and Jeremy as they got older. It was a tough transition for me going from Brick Elementary to Ocoee Elementary. The kids were mean and called me names and said I was ugly because I was Chinese. But nothing I could tell them, "I'm NOT CHINESE", would make them stop. I befriended two people James who was black, and Sandra who was mexican. James lived in my neighborhood and we became good friend over the many years we had together throughout school.
In fifth grade, we had a father daughter dinner at school. My father lived far away so he couldn't be with me but I still went thanks to my mother who was nice enough to ask our neighbor, Christopher's father, to take me. He was such a nice man and I still had fun but it definitely wasn't the same. When my father came to visit, I was happy. When he left, I'd lock myself in my room thinking if I didn't say good-bye he wouldn't leave. But he did - every time. Eventually my image of him faded and he just became my father and my mother assumed all roles in my mind.
Throughout my childhood, we had plenty of sibling fights. Me and Rob, Rob and Jeny, Jeny and Sarah, Sarah and Jeremy and a few times with me and Jeny. It's comical now to me, we'd threaten each other that when mom left one of us would get it. That was the sign, WHEN MOM LEFT. hahaha. Back then I remember being scared but now, I find it funny.
But we still always looked forward to Christmas Eve with or without my father. My mother was still able to give us plenty of gifts and as she knew back then and now, her little children were sneaky, curious children unable to wait for the okay. See now, we didn't have a chimney so Santa didn't exist anymore. The gifts were left under the tree throughout the entire month. When mom was gone, we'd sneak and tear away the tape and look inside to see what she gotten us. Then we'd tape it back up hoping she didn't noticed. We thought we got away with it but as I know now, my mother knew the whole time what we were doing but she never called us out on it.
In high school, I was involved in many activities but Band took up most of my time. My mother came to one game during my senior year, where she walked me down the field when I was in the homecoming court. My parents were finally ending their relationship for good. My father was still unfaithful with the same woman. I figured that out after the Band's Macy's Day parade where my father actually came with us, in his own car. A way to get to the other woman. I didn't know that at the time but after so many years, I figured it out.
When I was seventeen turning eighteen, my mother decided to throw me a Cotillion. I guess it's traditional like the latin Quinceria. It was an extravagant event. 200 guest, me in a ball gown that was made specifically for me and the way I wanted it, twelve couples in dresses made for them by a seamstress, and boys in tuxes. My father chose the other woman over being there with me during my eighteenth birthday. Something that lingered on for many years until adulthood. But at the moment when he did that, I felt less of me and more like disappearing. I tried to but it didn't work. I stayed with a friend for a week and Tito Eric came to my rescue. He almost fought my father in front of my friends house. Immediately, Tito Eric assumed a role I wanted and he was the one who was there for me during my eighteenth birthday Cotillion. I distanced myself from my father from that day on. TBC...
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