Early Childhood

Of my earliest memories, we lived in an apartment on the west side of Manchester. I lived there until I was 21. My mother was a good loving mother; my real father (the man who conceived me) left our family when I was just 2 months old. He left my mother with 4 kids to raise. Once they divorced we were raised by my stepfather the man whom I called Dad. My mother and him dated until I was 5 then they married.
My mother was a waitress and my father was a union pipefitter. We were raised Roman Catholic. My earliest childhood memory was when I was in my crib, the plaster from the ceiling let go all over the floor and myself. I wasn’t hurt but I can remember being scared.
Growing up I would say I had a normal childhood of a poor to middle class family of the time. My parents spent a lot of time with us getting us involved in sports, such as hockey, football and baseball. My siblings all got along as most normal brothers and sisters do, we had our fights but we were always there for each other, we were a close knit family.
I am the youngest of 4 children. I have 2 brothers and one sister, the oldest is my brother Robby (Robert), he was born 09/23/1959, my sister Robin was next she was born 12/03/1961, then Ricky (Richard) he was born 09/18/1963, I was then born 09/18/1966. Ricky and I have the same birthday 3 years apart.
Both of my parents assumed the role of disciplinarian, although most on the discipline was handed down by my mother. It was seldom physical. We were taught the things we did wrong and not to repeat them.
We were raised catholic, we as children attended Sunday school until confirmation, then it was up to us whether we attended church or not. My parents both were divorced and used that as an excuse to not attend mass.
My parents showed affection toward each other but not over excessive. We were not a family that hugged each other every day, but we knew we loved each other so displays of affection did not run rampant.
Early Childhood
I enjoyed going to school. I went to Gossler Park Elementary, Parkside Jr. High, and then West High. Elementary school was fun I had a lot of friends, we enjoyed recess playing kick ball, tag or king of the mountain in the winter (teachers frown upon king of the mountain). I found school work to be challenging; I had a hard time in reading and concentrating enough to complete assignments. The teachers we fair and nice, but they could really lay the law down when needed to.
My parents knew school work was a priority and always wanted to see us do well, if I fell behind or my grades were slipping they were on top of it. They would meet with teachers and get me on the right track. When I fell behind my mother would help me until my grades improved.
Sports were and important part of my childhood, I would spend a great deal of time daydreaming of playing, or becoming a professional athlete. When my grades slipped my parents use the no playing sports until schoolwork was done card well. Both my parents volunteered at the little league when I played. My father started off coaching then later became president of the league. My mother was team mother and president of the woman auxiliary.
My high school years began terribly; I was too immature for this step. I started off freshman year great I made honor roll, but that quickly changed as one marking period I failed all my classes (except gym). The reason for the collapse was just I was not ready to commit to academic success. I was the clown and did not pay attention to what my responsibilities were.
My next three years were much better, not great but better. I learned to have both academic and social success. My academic success wasn’t great; I just did what I knew I had to do to get by. My junior and senior years I was on the wrestling team. I wrestled at the 105 and the 112 lbs. weight classes. I wasn’t very good but I belonged on a team and that was a very positive experience. I did not go on to college, because