"The House That Built Me," Part One - The Trailer

Our first home was a year older than my husband. That's not a big deal when you're talking about a house. But when you're talking about a mobile home, yes, a trailer, that's just ridiculous.

My husband was born in 1984. The trailer was built in 1983. We bought it October 2003. My husband was 19, The Trailer was 20, and I was a mere 16. And I was about 5 months pregnant with Blythe Anne. After (finally) telling his mom that we were expecting a baby (when I was 5 months along), a lot happened.

First, she demanded that we get married, ASAP. I refused, I loved Joey, and I knew that one day we would get married, but I never wanted anyone to be able to say that the only reason we got married was because I was pregnant. Sure, they could still say we only got married because we had a child together, but I took away one lie that people could say about us. Joey's mom realized that arguing with a pregnant teen was useless, and moved on to other, more productive things. She helped Joey get a new truck, to go along with the new job that she pulled strings for him to get to support his new family. She also found The Trailer.

For $3,500, we had a home.

With a lot of bleach, some paint on the walls, and after ripping out the funky carpet, we settled in. The job that Joey had then, which lasted for 3 years, he was gone for a month, and only home for two weeks. Most of the time when Joey was gone, I stayed at my mom's. I wasn't used to staying by my self and every little noise freaked me out.

On December 22, 2003, my washer broke. It was one of the few times that I decided to stay at our house by my self while Joey was at work. I loaded the wet towels in the truck, and went to my mom's, because obviously, I had no business staying by my self.

On Decemer 23, 2003, my water broke.

When my mom called Joey's mom to tell her, Mrs Sue started telling my mom to go turn the water off to The Trailer, that Joey's dad, Mr Vernon, would be there shortly to fix it.

I was 7 months pregnant, she never imagined that my mom meant that MY water broke, not The Trailer's water.

After laying flat on a hospital bed for two weeks, we had Blythe Anne at 34 weeks. She had to go the NICU because she was 6 weeks early, but she didn't need to. There were never any set backs, no breathing problems, nothing. She stayed for a week, just to make sure and gain a little weight.

And we brought her home to The Trailer.