February 16, 2005
Background part I
I was born an identical twin in Greeley, Colorado, May 26, 1979. My sister, Heather and I were six weeks early, and weighed in at 4 and 6 pounds. Heather had a heart murmur and was jaundice, while I had a heart murmur and respitory problems. My tiny lungs weren't developed enough to handle the air from the world outside.
We spent our first several weeks of life in the NICU unit of Weld County General Hospital, visited several times a day by our mother, Laurie, and father, Gary.
I was the first to go home; Heather followed about a week later.
Tyler, just over 2 years our senior played the role of proud big brother. Thinking mom was only coming home with one baby sister, he was just as surprised as she upon finding out she was carrying twins.
I have a very small, fuzzy recollection of my (paternal) grandparents, Lois and Bob Akin, who lived in Colorado at the time. I am not entirely sure if it is my memory or if I'm simply remembering a photo I once saw of the two of them sitting on the couch.
My parents were divorced when I was just over a year old. I still have yet to get a straight answer out of anyone in my family as to the exact circumstances. My (maternal) grandmother, usually very reserved and quiet about personal matters, once opened up to me on a car trip home from the airport. She told me she had received a call from some elders of the church telling her that her grandkids (me and my siblings) had been staying there for a few days "for safety", and to come and get them. Mom had left us there. And then went back to Him. My aunt has always been fairly open about things, and has told me my father was abusive and a drug user. He grew up in the 60's-- that's how I've always rationalized it in my own head.
After that phone call, my uncles and my grandmother hopped in the car without a second thought and drove through the night to Colorado, coming to fetch us all.
We moved to Lincoln, Nebraska-- where mom's family was-- and that is where I grew up. Shortly after the move, mom mailed divorce papers to Gary, and that was the last time for nearly 16 years that I ever had contact with him.
In 1981, my mother met, and married my stepfather, Kent, and in July of 1982, my fraternal twin brothers (technically my half-brothers) were born.
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Posted by Wendy on February 16, 2005 3:33 PM