Monday, April 25, 2011

Biography Questions - First Half of My Life

Senior Picture - 16 yrs old

What were your parent's occupations?
     Dad was top secret for Lockheed. He specialized in making sure electrical parts in aircraft worked, and were considered safe.
     Mom went to work in order to put my brother and I through private schooling - this was due to learning of our deafness, and wanting us to remain in mainstream education while having smaller class sizes. She managed cafeterias for the L.A. City Schools.
My Parents - Dancing

How many children were in your family?
   Two - my brother and I.

Where did you grow up?
     Born in Ohio
     Moved to California when I was two - lived in Hollywood
     Moved to Inglewood as a toddler, and attended Kindergarten and part of 1st grade there
     Moved to Torrance, and attended the rest of 1st grade through 4th grade
     Moved to Arleta (in the San Fernando Valley), and skipped the 5th grade, attended 6th and part of 7th grade there.
     Moved to Sepulveda (now known as North Hills), and lived there until I married Randy when I was 18.
     Graduated High School when I was 16, went to college for a year, then got a summer job - and also became engaged...so, I stayed at my job to pay for my wedding (mom and dad paid for my cake and Church on the Way's reception hall - it was known as Van Nuys Baptist at the time)

What did you want to be when you grew up?
     A roller derby girl
     Airline Stewardess
     Legal secretary

What was your first job?
     Secretary for title officers at Safeco Title Insurance Company - I was 17 years old.

What made you leave that job? Did you get fired?
     I remained there until I got married, and left because the house we purchased was kind of far away - I wasn't familiar with the commuting thing.

Randy & I kayaking Lake Tahoe

What are your most memorable trips/vacations?
     Lake Tahoe -  has always been the family's favorite summer vacation spot -- camping, beaching, miniature golfing, ice skating Squaw Valley, horse back riding, boating, skiing, walking through the towns.
     East Coast  - was an amazing month-long trip for our family of five (Chris, Kim, Ashley, me and Randy). We flew our tent and sleeping bags along with us, rented a minivan, traveled from West Virginia all the way up to Montreal Canada. Washington D.C., New York City, Niagara Falls, Cooperstown, Kennenbunkport Maine, Rhode Island and the mansions, covered bridges and syrup of Vermont, Elite university of Connecticut (Yale), Massachusetts - Salem, Cape Cod, Plymouth, and Nantucket.
     New York City -  the kids were all grown, one married, two in college; so, I purchased two tickets to NYC for Randy and I. When our daughters heard about it, they were appalled that they weren't included in such a trip. So, to add a bit of 'responsibility to your now grown life', we said they could come if they saved $150 or $200 toward their airfare (can't remember exactly how much, but something like that)...they whipped that up without a problem (when there's a will, there's a way ;-). We had the best time! NYC will always be a favorite for us.
     London, England - Randy and I walked our legs off. Chris (our son) and his wife had moved there to work as accountants for their respective companies. I was a Realtor, and had several properties in escrow, and several had closed within a short amount of time, and decided to take some of my earnings and use it toward visiting Chris and Angela, as well as a country we had never been to. Bath, England was amazing, as well as London becoming such a wonderful, interesting, busy place.


Christopher, Ashley, and Kimberly

Do you have a family? How did it start?
     It started unexpectedly. I was told by my doctor (who was afraid to have anything to do with causing my hearing to worsen - I had low tones, but no comprehension of speech without lip-reading) - that I shouldn't take birth control pills just in case I had a deaf-related disease called Osteoclerosis. He felt that it may instantly take away everything I had at the time. I figured if that was the case, I didn't want birth control pills anyway -- goodness gracious if they had the ability to do that, what else could they do?

     So, Randy and I were introduced to 'foam' -- insert, wait 10 minutes, and voila, 95% safe.

    Whether we thought those were the longest 10 minutes of our lives, or we truly fell within the 5% category, I don't know -->   but, it turned out that I didn't have a horrible flu bug that just wouldn't go away.
  
     Married February 10, and delivered Christopher Dowayne Sprenkel on December 22 = conceived one month after marrying...I was 19 when he was born.

     I didn't really want to be a mother -- though I've always been a happy person, with lots of independency, will and drive, I wasn't happy about much of my childhood. Besides that, I was never the type that ogled over everyone else's new baby. I didn't think I wanted a family, nor that I could be a good mother.

     That all changed when I found how much I loved my son, and THIS baby was the best baby of any and all babies ever born -- besides Jesus, of course.

     So, I wanted two more sons. They would play sports, and I'd fix them pancakes on Saturday mornings, and go out and do things, and be Tomboys right along with them! This is perfect!! A life of sports, roughness, and eating. Praise God Almighty!

     Lo and behold, our second child was the most precious little girl -- Kimberly Denise. She brought something out of me I didn't know was possible...laces and bows and frilly dresses and socks; french braids and tap/ballet lessons. Never did I know that motherhood could be this wonderful. I wanted another...

     So, we tried for one more baby -- boy or girl, it didn't matter; but, I knew my max, my limit, would be three children. Ashley Renee was born, and she was the completion of our beautiful, fun family.

     Oh, and those girls were signed up for sports as soon as their ages allowed ;-)...along with tap and ballet, and gymnastics, that is.

To be continued...someday...