Our 1st Challenge

Since each of our work
will be posted on a page,
I think we should start off with something
that tells a little bit about ourselves.
Keep in mind,
it can take any form and does not have to be a poem.







All About Me

I am a very emotional, sensitive woman
who has hidden my true self beneath strength,
shyness and perfection most of my life.
I am tough as nails on the outside – my set jaw,
high cheekbones and shyness completes the illusion.
However, inside lurks a marshmallow who is easily taken advantage of,
emotionally hurt and someone who just wants to make everyone happy.
I have been learning to let the real me out in the past five years or so.
It tends to come out in an overwhelming manner at times –
the result of holding it in for so long, I suppose.
Many can’t handle my openness and honesty.
I wish they could understand,
but I no longer strive for their acceptance and understanding.
For the most part, I am okay being me now.

I have always been an over-achiever in many ways,
yet in others I have little drive and ambition.
Some of that stems from my lack of self-esteem.
I have tried very hard to understand why my sense of self is so low.
I was born into an upper middle class home to loving parents
who spent a lot of time with their children, and each other.
I can always remember being shy, yet I could be out-going at times –
usually in a one-on-one situation or if the cause runs deep in my veins.

I was pretty much an “A” student, always near the top of my class.
I took acrobatics, tap, baton,
ballet and modern jazz lessons and went to Explorers and Girl Guides.
My parents were active in the Home and School Association
and we always had friends and family in our home.
I wrote letters to the editor to express my opposition
to the legalization of marijuana
and one was used as an article in our two community newspapers.
I learned to water-ski when I was about five years old,
was always an avid swimmer and all in all was quite a tomboy.
I had a deep love for animals, canvassed for the Humane Society
for about 5 years and I was always nursing a sick,
injured or abandoned animal that someone would bring to me.

I loved to catch frogs and snakes,
go fishing, climb trees and write poetry and prose.
I still love all of those things,
but I admit, haven’t climbed a tree in 4 years.
I participated in Walk-a-Thons
and canvassed for various charities, and sang in the choir.
I tried my hand at public speaking and did fairly well.
At Christmas I would volunteer to sing at the local Senior’s Home.
I organized a group of neighbourhood children
to craft ‘golliwogs’ and ‘octopuses’ out of yarn.
We sold them door to door for 10 cents each or 3 for 25 cents
and donated the money to a charity that sent poor children to summer camp.

I am accident prone or have bad luck a lot of time.
I laugh about it, but most people don’t believe it.
Many say that I live a soap opera life!
For instance, in public school the end of my baby finger
was cut off on a teeter totter while I was standing
talking to schoolmates, leaning up between the teeter totters.
I was heavily involved in gymnastics when I was young,
hoping to become a professional, but that ended after I fell
running into the lake and seriously damaged my left knee.
I had a tumour in my jaw-bone when I was 13 or 14
which ate away ¾ of the jaw-bone on the left side.
I have broken many of my toes more times than I can remember!

I was in an 8 or 9 vehicle accident and hit two or three times
which injured my neck, middle back and lower back –
in addition to a small tear in my retina and a damaged right elbow.
I fall up… or down stairs constantly.
I almost killed myself when I went sky-diving
because my chute wasn’t packed properly
and one of the steering toggles was caught just above my reach.
Luckily I just broke my ankle
(and my behind was black, blue, purple and yellow for THREE months!)
but I went without treatment for six weeks because I was afraid
to see my doctor as he wouldn’t medically clear me
to jump as it was less than 3 months after my hysterectomy.
I fell down some cement stairs and had two casts
and had to wear an air-splint afterwards for 12 weeks.
The list goes on and on!

After giving it a lot of thought I think my self-worth
suffered the most when I was foolish enough
to get pregnant at a very young age and run away from home.
I knew that I had devastated my family with my actions,
and tried to make it work out right by marrying the man
(who was very abusive)
and staying with him for nearly six years.
I had two babies within 10 ½ months,
and had miscarried and spontaneously aborted 2 others in between!

I became involved in environmental and community concerns
after my second child was born and started feeling more secure.
I was secretary and eventually co-chaired a committee opposing a Bylaw
in my town that would zone a large tract of waterfront land as industrial.
I went to the local schools and arranged a contest
in which the students would do projects to show why the land
should be zoned as an environmentally protected area instead of industrial.
Then I called the press in to report on the children’s completed projects.
I did an article on it myself, and it was printed in the local papers.
We won our battle.

During the By-law fight I became involved in Municipal politics.
I ran for Town Council and lost,
however I know that my campaign really shook things up.
In fact, the race was so close
(less than 20 votes deciding the outcome)
that I could have requested a re-count, but didn’t because
I was very naïve and actually quite happy with the elected representatives.
Our Reeve
(like a mayor)
had been acclaimed for 16 years and was looking forward to making it 20.
Instead, we nominated and elected the youngest Reeve ever in Ontario,
and I believe in Canada.

My son had severe learning disabilities
and his needs were not being met in the public school system.
I became involved with the LDAO
(Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario)
and felt empowered to fight for his rights.
The Board of Education felt the solution was
to place him into a Behavioural class.
I wanted him double serviced –
the behavioural issues were created by his educational needs not being met.
I fought for 8 years and was instrumental in some major changes to the
educational system here in Ontario in a behind-the-scenes kind of way.

With such a strong love of animals,
and being somewhat of a loner, many of my jobs have been with animals.
I have worked for the Ontario Humane Society
and several veterinarians over the years.
I have also taught dog obedience and done a little bit of show handling
(obedience trials)
and dog grooming.
I had a registered kennel where I bred and raised
Silky Terriers and German Short-haired Pointers.
I have performed caesareans on cows and been
involved with several animal rescues over the years.

I have been married three times now.
My first marriage ended in divorce,
my second husband died of gastric cancer
and I am now in a long distance marriage with my third husband.
It is the one good thing that has happened in my life in many years.
I have been actively involved in grandparent’s rights,
and opened up my own online support group for Canadian grandparents
raising/seeking access to their grandchildren as well as a secure support
group for Canadian grandchildren being raised by their grandparents.
When my second husband was alive we helped out with our local food bank
and collected donations to provide Christmas gifts for under-privileged children.
We also coached t-ball and baseball and I was an active volunteer at the school.

I retired from work to raise my son’s daughter as my own since she turned 4 years old.
She suffers from Reactive Attachment Disorder and
I found myself in similar battles for her to receive the appropriate treatmen
for her disorder as I fought for my son to receive an appropriate education.
Time will tell if I have been successful or not.
I love children, so I started doing day care for low income families,
which grew to a clientele of 10 part
and full time children from different socio-economic backgrounds.
I also operated a school drop off and pick up service for four to six children.

I was actively involved with our local
children’s soccer club until my health started to interfere.
One of my dogs, who is now deceased was
a Therapy Dog with St. John’s Ambulance
and I am training my Bernese Mountain Dog to do the same.
I participated in a course with the LDAO in 2007 and I now do a bit of work
as a Parent Consultant in Education Advocacy with my eldest child, Tina.

I am honest to a fault, very loving and caring,
I use humour to get me through the tough spots… and there have been many.
I was a single mom to my two children
from the time they were 4 until they were adults,
then a single mom with my adopted daughter after my second husband died.
After a relationship with a man who turned out to be an alcoholic,
I lived in the streets and placed my children
elsewhere for a month or so until I could get our life straightened out.

I went to college as a mature student to get my
Addiction Counselling Diploma when my kids were pre-teens/teens.
My field placements were in the mental health field
so I now have the equivalent to a Human Services Diploma
with a major in Mental Health and a second major in Addictions.
Prior to finishing the course I learned that I had
to have a hysterectomy at 29 years of age because of pre-cancerous cells.
It turned out they had to remove one ovary as well.
I missed the last 8 weeks of College,
but I passed with Honours and a GPA of 4.085 out of a possible 4.3
(I missed being Valedictorian by .016 points!)

I suffer from a rare blood disorder called a c1q esterase deficiency
and was very ill with it for 17 months prior to my 2nd husband’s illness.
I was his primary care-giver
throughout his illness with cancer and watched him die in my arms.
I was diagnosed with Stage 2 vaginal cancer almost 2 years ago
and sometimes it gets the best of me… but hey… I am tough!
I was taken advantage of by a con-man
after my husband died and lost what, to me, was a large sum of money.
I managed to turn the tables and re-coup about half of it.
I have suffered from fluid around my heart since my 2nd husband died
and I have gone from being almost anorexic to very overweight.

Despite everything I have done over the years,
other than my internet friends and one friend
who lives thousands of miles away from me, I have no “real” friends.
I was always too busy working 3 and 4 jobs to raise my children.
I had one very close friend for 40 years,
but after my husband died she took our home away from us.
It almost destroyed my daughter,
and I was at my emotional and physical lowest.

I rarely fight with people or hold grudges.
I forgive and forget and tend to get walked on again and again.
I usually don’t allow it to get me down, though.
I laugh, I trudge on…
finding another cause…
another child who needs a friend…
an animal that needs rescuing…
a friend who needs support…
anything rather than dwelling on the pain.

I am soft…
I hurt…
I ache…
I am a worrier…
I am ill…
I am okay being me,
but sometimes I still hide it all under a mask of strength and humour.

©2008 Christine Raymo (Didi)







Click HERE
to visit my WWAUW Writings page.

Click HERE
to visit Didi's personal website.














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