My Journey - Chapter 1 - Katherine
A/N
- Please enjoy this story of life, discovery and love. This is a multi-chapter at times a slow burn fictional story. Let's call the slow burn elements background and character building. KAD
Looking back at my adolescent years, I remember them as being strict and absolutely stifling. I grew up in a large Catholic family. I have seven brothers and sisters: four brothers and three sisters, I am the third oldest child.
-Michael, the oldest, is reserved and lazy. He will live with our parents for his entire life.
-Rich is the handyman of the family, he is our go to and fixes what comes our way.
-Then me. I guess you could say I see the whole and good in people but I feel stifled in my life. I want to do good for others.
-Derrick, the black sheep, troublemaker, always fighting the rules. We know for certain he is heading for a life of less success and incarceration.
-Liz is our quiet shy bookworm, the second smartest by far of us all.
-Mary is our beauty queen, the athlete, a model made for all to view and adore. Her dark raven hair makes all of us jealous.
-William the genius one day he will rule the world, at least that is how I feel.
-Erin, the whoops baby! She is our saint. She is destined for a faith based life.
My mother had a very difficult time stammering through the conversation with me about becoming a woman; difficult topics were not her strong suit. It was her first time having
the
conversation. With me she never mentioned sex or making love, it was clinical reading from a book what to expect when I would get my first period. It wasn't her fault. Thank goodness for a few friends I had, Patty, Mary Beth and Jenna. We helped each other understand and get through those difficult days.
We were dedicated to faith, kindness, religion and service to others. Based on the teaching of the catholic faith we believed in our
faith, love
,
respect
and
trust
, which we now know was significantly flawed by a large number of priests.
It was later uncovered that priests who served our parish, here in western Pennsylvania, were named in a massive investigation that was conducted and Grand Jury documents released. To this day I pray my brothers were never harmed.
We were to believe any and everything taught to us while in school, home or extracurricular activities which were all church related. We learned things either from a book, our parents, our doctors, our friends or my trial and error.
We had ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. We didn't have HBO, MTV or any cable television to learn from.
Entertainment in the home was wholesome and innocent. Cards or board games, then one hour of television, rated G, then prayers, then off to bed. My social life revolved around the Girl Scouts, our church and spending time with other "like minded families", as my parents put it, at church sponsored events. There was Friday night bingo, fundraisers, picnics and of course there was never any real unsupervised time where boys and girls intermingled.
We tried, trust me, at least I tried. If and when we were caught, we were punished. More than once my bottom was reddened by the paddle of a nun or the belt from my father. So you get the idea, to me Catholic school was like prison.
Not much in my life had or was going to change as I had hoped it would have when high school came. I still dreamt of change and freedom. I wasn't rebellious; I knew there was more to life than what I was seeing.
I went to a Catholic high school where nuns as well as priests were our teachers. We wore uniforms, boys in a white or light blue shirt with a tie, tied properly, blue dress pants and black dress shoes. Girl wore a white or light blue blouse, with proper undergarments including a cotton camisole to hide our bra, a blue or blue and gold striped skirt with knee high length socks. The socks were to be white, dark or light blue, and of course patent leather shoes, no heels, flats.
If the skirt appeared too short, it was measured. Policy was two inches below the knees, which was the rule. If it were short, to the principal's office where discipline followed. Then a call to your parents reminding them of school uniform policies.
At the beginning of my junior year, I sat with my mother and father at the table where they presented to me the SAT study book. I was instructed that I would study two to six hours per week in addition to my regular homework. I was informed that I would take the SATs, then in the fall I would submit my college applications.
The SAT's were not too difficult. I was told by my teachers I did well achieving a 1430. I wasn't praised by my parents nor was there any celebration. Later during my freshman year of college I learned how well I had done, I never realized nor was it mentioned or celebrated that I scored in the upper 5% of the entire country that year.
The real challenge came when I was applying to college and what I wanted to study. Though my father wanted me to study business, I had long discussions with my father and mother about my need and desire to serve my fellow man and want to care for others. I felt the education that would give that to me was that of a registered nurse.
It was only after many conversations including a few with Father Krys that it was agreed upon as deemed an appropriate career path and life choice as well as safe by my parents. We just didn't know which college I would go to.