Are you sure?
This action might not be possible to undo. Are you sure you want to continue?
My Journey with Mickey
Ratings:
114 pages1 hour
Summary
My Journey with Mickey is about a girl growing up with the confusion and isolation of having a twin with severe developmental delays and explosive behaviors. She struggles to find her place in the family amidst the chaos created by her twin. She comes to realize how much her identity is tied to him. Her inner turmoil shatters her faith in God, and how she feels about herself. The emotions are real. The story is real.
Publisher: AuthorHouseReleased: Feb 27, 2016ISBN: 9781504979436Format: book
Book Preview
My Journey with Mickey - Melissa Morrison
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: 1 (800) 839-8640
© 2016 Melissa Morrison. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published by AuthorHouse 02/26/2016
ISBN: 978-1-5049-7945-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-5049-7944-3 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-5049-7943-6 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016903061
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Quiet Realization
What Is Normal?
Welcome to Your Nightmare
Defining Roles
You Gotta Have Faith
Obstacles
The Potter’s Wheel
Hugs Not Drugs
There’s a Joke Here Somewhere
What Fresh Hell Is This?
Let’s Talk About Michael
May I Have This Dance?
The Long Road Home
The Foe
It Takes a Village, or Maybe the Whole Globe
Expressions of Life
References
About the Author
Quiet Realization
The wait to get on the bus was a chilling one. The snow was coming down so hard and fast that I could barely see the other kids’ faces. Most of the boys were tossing snowballs as the girls danced around catching snowflakes on our tongues. I think most kids were oblivious as to how bad the weather really was that day; I wasn’t. Unlike most kids my age, I was very aware and nervous of any changes in my routine. Change wasn’t good. My twin brother, Mickey, had taught me that. I’m not sure when I had accepted his opinion as a fact, but I know we must have been very young.
The wind had really picked up. I could feel the knots in my stomach begin to tighten as my frazzled nerves played tug of war with my insides. I wondered if Mickey’s bus would get him home safely. At least the school was letting us go home early. When we played in the snow at recess, all we could talk about was whether we would have an early dismissal. The whole fifth grade burst into cheers when they heard Ms. Fields, our school secretary, come over the loud speaker. You could barely hear her tell us that the buses were picking us up early due to bad weather. Everyone was excited. Well, everyone except me. I knew that Mickey would be afraid to be on his bus in the snowstorm. I knew Mickey wouldn’t like going home early. He didn’t mind going home; he just wanted to go at the same time every day. He didn’t like change. No one around Mickey liked change. It was just a fact of life.
Jeremy’s snowball forced me to raise my face into the biting wind and ice, but before I could chastise his actions, my eyes zeroed in on Mickey’s bus. I wasn’t the only one who noticed the short, yellow school bus on its way to drop off its students. Being unruly, Scott Edwards gave Jeremy a hard shove in the direction of the small, yellow bus. "Don’t miss your bus ‘sped’!, he chanted, quite proud of his joke. Jeremy quickly shot back,
I’m not a retard, that’s your bus, man! Everyone was laughing at these jokes. Some were pointing at the kids on the slow moving bus and saying things to each other like,
…there go your friends, better catch ’em!" The roads were icy and hard to maneuver, so the small yellow bus was in view long enough to be entertaining.
Through all of the laughter, a few children heard a meek voice asking them to please stop. After a few whispers to be quiet, all eyes were on me. Not many of my classmates had really noticed me before, but now I had every ones attention. This was a pivotal moment for me. I was far from being a popular kid, and didn’t want the other kids to think I was weirder than they had already decided. I had to make a decision that very second. I held my head high and stated, I wish you’d stop laughing, my brother’s on that bus!
Whew! I said it! But now what? After what seemed a million years, Scott touted, Good one Missy; your brother’s on that bus! That’s funny!
After receiving his approval, the other kids started laughing also. They think they are laughing with me! Great! I finally get a smidgen of approval from my peers, and it is all for a joke that I didn’t even make. I mustered up the courage to say, No, it’s true. My twin brother is on that bus.
At first, they were shocked to find out I was a twin, then the other half of the equation sank in. They just stared at me as if I were some kind of freak.
As bad as it hurt; I still felt a jolt of pride in standing up for Mickey. I also realized that I would always have to stand up for him. That day, Mickey became more than my twin brother; he became the wounded child, and I became his protector. I was thankful for the snow on my face, maybe no one would notice I was crying.
Small, yellow ‘special’ bus comes into view.
What Is Normal?
The ride home that day was long and arduous. Normally, Greentree Road was like a fun roller coaster ride. I always looked forward to the tickle in my stomach going up and down the many dips in the road. Today, the ten-minute ride home took over an hour with the bus nearly ending up in a ditch twice.
Most people would have checked their anxiety upon exiting the bus. As I turned the knob on the red front door of my home, my anxiety reached an all-time high. That darned
You've reached the end of this preview. Sign up to read more!
Page 1 of 1