Running head: OVERCOMING MY PSYCHOLOGICAL HANGUPS 1

Recalling my Childhood Experiences
Nichole Latiker
Ivy Tech Community College

Overcoming My Psychological Hang Ups It was 1983. The Midwest Weather was cold, so cold that icicles were everywhere that a little girl could fix her eyes to look. The week before, there had been blizzards and rain. I didn't care about the snow or cold air but this particular week it was only a slight cool breeze. The snow was 9 inches on the ground. It was just so beautiful outside. It reminded me of a snow globe or a plush white mink coat covering my middle class neighborhood. I remember those icicles being all over the houses on my street from front to back because my friends and I would imagine that they were diamonds. Well, the girls imagined large gems. The boys played swords with the ice. They looked more like knives but I enjoyed their male antics anyway. I was very lively and full of vigor, except when I stepped inside my home. I played with friends or by myself. I was only 7 years old at the time and being outside in the snow was a refuge from being in the house with my mentally ill mother. At the time I hadn't (had not) realized that she was “sick”, I just knew that my mother was unusually cruel. I knew in my heart that she was mean but I chose to overlook her faults because-well, I really do not know. Maybe it was because I had enough friends to take my focus off of what was going on at home or maybe it was my father. He would take my sister and I every weekend and holidays with him. Papa would take my sister and I to visit my grandparents (his parents) many times. My grandmother cooked the best delicious foods. She was tall in stature with beautiful, soft brown skin and a smile that let me know that I was loved. My grandfather had eyes that