a Begining

I was almost 3 when my sister was born. My mom was married to her second husband, who was military, and I do believe we lived on a base. I think it was in Ontario, maybe Petawawa not sure, never really asked because it did not really matter to me even now. I don't remember much about that time. The closest memories I have were after that and it was summer I think I was a couple of years older but not yet in school. What I do remember is a huge willow tree in our neighbor hood that me and a friend use to play under and that there was a picnic table under it too. I also remember a story about 2 kids that got attacked and killed by the river by a black bear and that the military created a manhunt to find the bear and put it down. I think at the time of these early memories my mom was with her yet to be 3rd husband. More on that later.
Now here is were I need to tell my mom's stories about this time. Before that I will give a little back ground leading up to my sister's dad. My mom met my dad on a military base, her dad was in the army. She and several other girls use to hang out at the mess hall and play cards with the soldiers, the soldiers missing their families would sit and talk to the girls about their homes, their families and their girlfriends that they missed. It was a very small base so the only place for the teenagers to hang out was the mess hall. I do know that she was proposed to by many of the men due to her caring and ready ear. My dad was one of those single men who had proposed but like all such proposals she ignored it because she did not take it seriously and thought that like all the rest he was joking. He went back home which was on the west coast and mom went about her life as usual. During that time my dad started to write my mom letters and love poetry, he has a wonderful way with words as I have the letters he wrote to me. She started to fall in love with my dad through these love letters. In one of these letters he told her he was coming back to Ontario to marry her. The next thing she knows is he shows up several months later to marry her. She, needless to say was a little stunned. She was in High School at the time and her class was going on a cruise to Rome and Greece. Her step-mother gave her a choice go on the cruise or get married. Surprisingly she decided to get married. She tells me she loved my dad and that she still does for he was the love of her life. So my dad and mom got married and then he moved her to Chilliwack, BC. all the way across the country. He took her to met his family, who were not aware he had gotten married and were told when they got there and he introduced her as his wife. My grandparents are amazing. They just found out their son has a new bride, that she was 16 years old (my dad was 21) and their house on base was not ready yet. So they opened up their home and hearts to her and she lived there until she moved into their own place which was a couple of days later. Now that is how my mom and dad met as far as I know.
A little history about my mom's life before my dad. Her life was not idealistic. Her father was an alcoholic and got very violent when he drank. He use to beat her brothers and sisters with a leather belt and on occasions use the buck. Anyone in the military will tell you that the belts are thick and the belt buckles are very heavy and have several edges to them. I also know that her mother was very verbally abusive to the kids as well. Mom's older sister had run away from home and she had no contact with her. Of course when my dad came back and offered to marry her not only did she do it because she loved him but as a way out. She never put it that way but having been involved in abusive marriage that is how the brain works. This is about as much as I know. My mom's childhood was not positive and she doesn't talk about it much. Who would want to relive those memories, not I.
This is quite long and I want to continue the story. I will end this post because the next one will deal with my dad and some of the stories that other people have told me that concern him and why my parents ended up divorcing. Plus I would like my mom to read this and tell me any corrections I need to make on her story because as I said my memories are incomplete and I am, in this post, retelling what she has told me.