Chapter 2

Now that I think back on it, Michelle’s early years were spent with her father doing a lot of moving and traveling whilst on active duty with the United States Marine Corps. She spent those years going from base to base and even overseas on a duty assignment. Michelle loved to pretend to be in the military following her brother around with his friends as they practiced drill with broomsticks on their shoulders as weapons to imitate the Marines around them. She was able to salute and hum the National anthem or the Marine Corps song with a big grin on her face that let you know she might not be able to mouth the words, but she knew exactly what they meant.

One of the sports she loved growing up was basketball.

Even at an early age the difference in height between her and her twin brother John was astonishing. She was somewhat skinny most of her childhood and when her brother started to bulk up with his swimming and other sports, the vast gulf between them in physical appearance made one doubt the basic fact that they were fraternal twins.

Mentally, they were both vastly different as well with Michelle being tested at only in the 60 range on IQ and her twin brother with 140. In the area of common sense, I would give them an equal standing because she was able to outwit her brother more than once without even trying.

One of her impressive skills was that she seemed to have a built-in GPS system inside her mysterious brain that allowed her to remember every turn on the road to go to anyplace she had been before.

There was even a time in North Carolina when she stood next to the school bus driver to give her directions to find her street after the driver got lost and confused.

Another of her strange abilities was the almost photographic memory she had of the smallest of details. She could enter a room later and know exactly what had been moved or was not in the right place from before. Sometimes, when we were looking for something like keys, she would go right to them and show us where they had been placed.

Michelle in those years was always the one that put a smile on everybody’s face with her comical antics to make people laugh when they felt uncomfortable or depressed over life in general.

Her love of basketball led to her being in the Special Olympics for basketball and traveling to other schools in a league to play in genderless teams to qualify for the finals in Raleigh, North Carolina. A vivid memory calls back an incident in another city where she was called in to replace an injured player and she was trying to shoot a layup under the basket when a tall boy snatched the ball from her hands and ran all the way down to the other end to line up a sure shot at the basket. Michelle was so angry that she ran all the way down the court and pushed the six foot something boy out of bounds and was given a technical foul for an intended violation. Of course, the entire place was laughing at the sight of a four foot tiny girl pushing a six footer out of bounds and even the referees were finding it difficult to hide their laughter. Poor Michelle only wanted justice for what she felt was outright theft of her chance to make a basket.

Then again, she always reminded me of her total lack of prejudice in matters of appearance or skin color. She called her dark-skinned friends “Blackie” with her own vocabulary that never bowed to concepts of Political Correctness or negative thinking.

One day at the airport in San Diego, she ran up to a group of extremely tall black males thinking they were basketball players and gave them all high fives laughing in her own special way. They were so surprised because she was obviously overjoyed to greet them with a smile and handshake trying to communicate that she played basketball as well. I never found out if they were a basketball team but must admit it brought a tear to my eye to see her happiness at making new friends.

Michelle’s school years were low-key for the most part until she entered High School in Cary, North Carolina as part of the Wake County school system. She enjoyed her time there at Cary High School and was welcomed by the school staff and students as a fellow student who enjoyed every part of school life. She graduated in 1993 and was proud to wear her cap and gown to the ceremony. She had many friends at the Cary High School. Her list of friends was not limited to the Special Education students but included numerous students at different activities and she blended into the mix with little difficulty. I would estimate that was about as close to “mainstreaming” that she would probably achieve in life and a vast improvement on her experiences in Onslow County. I do not mean to disparage the Onslow County school system or the Catholic school system she was a part of. It was just a fact of life that the rural atmosphere of the coastal county was not geared to the needs of the Special Student population at that time in history.

We moved to Raleigh County mainly for both my son and daughter’s education because my son needed to get some advanced classes and the swimming team was a big opportunity for him to improve his skills in the water. He attended mostly advanced classes and was able to study Russian language whilst still in High School. Michelle was at home with his swimming practices, and she was able to participate in the Special Olympics because of her improved swimming skills. She also participated in the Special Olympics for basketball and bowling as well.

Part of her training in Cary High School included a jobs training program that put her in a work environment at several locations including The Olive Garden, various Motels in the area, The County Library, and a food growing project located near the High School.

One day while I was working for the County outdoors on a field assignment, I got a phone call from the small growing plant that she had left the hot houses for school because she had missed the bus transportation. Of course, I immediately headed to her location to track her down. It was with some relief that I got a message via my beeper that she had arrived at the High School after being picked up by a Cary Police Department deputy who was miraculously able to communicate with her and understood she was merely trying to walk to the High School only a short distance away. I often think about that officer taking the initiative to help my little daughter at her time of need. He was truly a hero for his actions in going that extra mile to help in what could have been a tragic incident.