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Catherine
I, Catherine Anne Breazeale was a rebel child of the sixties. I was married at 15, in
the summer of 1976. My husband was 16. I was married twice more and divorced
thrice by the time I was 22. They were all to the same man-child. Jason was born of
the second marriage and Tracy the third. In 1983, I was engaged to marry another
man, when I discovered he was a hard-core racist and not at all a family man. I
decided not to marry him, but did decide to keep the baby I discovered conceived
during our time together. That was Blythe’s father.
I was married to two other men for a short while only because they wanted me to put
them before my children. That was not going to happen. So, I spent 17 years as a
single parent. I spent some time as a foster mother from 1995 to 1998. I believe
children are more important than any other gift of life.
After my children were born, I attended the University of Southern Mississippi and
graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Art of Business, with a major in accounting.
However, somehow I have ended up being a software developer for the last eleven
years. I may go back into accounting or write fantasy novels, but I doubt I will
continue developing as it is beginning to wear me out.
Jason has a bachelor’s in psychology at USM and is in the process of getting his
master’s in special education. He enjoys mentoring children with emotional difficulties.
Jason is a classic care taker. He loves family and wants one of his own some day.
Like my father, he will be a late bloomer when it comes to settling down and having
children. He believes he should wait for the ‘right’ time. My only hope is that Jason
plans, and God will laugh and send him a baby.
Tracy will get her bachelor’s in Medical Information and Information Technologies.
She has not decided if she will go on and get her master’s to teach, become a director
of hospital patient data or spend more time with her children by working from home as
a medical coder. She is a kind and gentle person. She has given me two beautiful
grandchildren, Danyale and Hayden, who are the lights of my life. She had Danyale in
2001, who was a miracle child given Tracy’s womb was declared not healthy enough to
bear children. Eight years later, when she was two weeks away from a pre-op
consultation for a hysterectomy, when she became pregnant again. Tracy planned and
God laughed and now we have Hayden.
Blythe was in the middle of getting her second chef’s certificate at the New Orleans
Culinary Institute, when Katrina hit. The school never reopened and Blythe was
forever changed by losing everything she owned. She spent some time working for the
Blue Tarp Corp., until New Orleans opened up for business again. She loves cooking and
plans to go into business for herself selling pastries to tourists at the endless parade
of New Orleans festivals and tourist season. She is a wild, free spirit.
I met a man in March of 2003, and we have been together ever since. He is Michael
Edwin ‘Maddawg’ Douglas. A badass biker on the outside and a ultra-conservative,
right-wing Christian on the inside. He refuses to marry me for fear I will divorce him.
He puts me and my children and grandchildren first, he takes care of me and loves me
more than my ‘husbands’ ever did. Of all the men in my life, he is the first to not be
intimidated by my in-your-face, filter-less mannerisms. He has two sons that he trusts
me to parent, even though he thinks I am too rigid as a parent. His 17 year old son lives
with us so, at almost 50, I find myself parenting again. Where I believe in strict
discipline, Michael is a sucker for children and animals. He gives me free reign over
William, but he outrageously spoils our dogs.
Both sides of my family, my mother’s and my Breazeale father’s are wondrous, loving,
family-oriented people. I have truly been blessed.
This narrative was posted March 2010.
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