The Climb

I wa born 7 Nov 1964 in Mt Auburn hospital, Cambridge Massachusetts as a Cugini.

My father passed away in 1970and my mom had to sell everything, from our house on Bigalow st to my fathers restaurant in Brighton Massachusetts. I remember living a short time in Newton before we left for Germany with my mothers new boyfriend who happened to work for MIT. I remember going to German schools and would go to the front gate of the class to teach the German kids some English words. One time while walking home from school I guess Pam my sister wasn’t paying attention and I had crossed the street before her when all of a sudden I hear “Tonia, wait for me” and just when she got me out a car had hit here. She was more in shock than anything else. She kept pleading for me not to tell our mother.Which I never did.

My mom had anger issues and I don’t know how many times our Christmas tree ended up tossed over the balcony of our apartment. My mom couldn’t take it anymore so we were on a plane back to the US, this time we lived in Waltham Massachusetts in this big old house by the watchfactory. This was actually the place I experienced my first kiss as well as getting high on marijuana. My mom had gone to pick up some dogs and left us with some friends at the house who happened to be a friend from Germany, any way the adults were sitting around smoking a joint and had passed it to me, well of course I had to try it , but after a hit or two I got up and went outside, I was really high, it was dark out and my girl friend was yelling at me through her window after saying hi to her I went to my mothers friends house which was two houses down from ours, I was feeling very paranoid and I was still very high. After talking to my moms girl friend what was gong on she assisted me up stairs to lie down, I actually thought I was going to stay that way for the rest of my life.

Another time I had to walk through some woods to get to a playground to meet up with some friends on my way home I encountered this disgusting gentleman who asked me if I knew where I knew where milk came from , I n ver ran so fast in my life, hen I got home I told my mom what had happened and her friends just happened to be over and they jumped on there motorcycles and went to the area I had mentioned that I saw that guy, no luck though.

We had to move because we found out that they were going to tear our house down to make a parking lot, a lot had happened at that house to include someone shooting through the window of my mothers bedroom window thank God a table was there and stopped the bullet. I also experienced my first kiss underneath a chestnut tree in front of the house .I Was going to miss that old house. We moved to Sterling Massachusetts into another big house and lived there a short time before moving to Rockport Massachusetts, I was married and had a son at age 17 but my husband cheated on me with my sister, best friend and baby sitter so I left him. I had got my own apartment but my exhusband would come over and harass me. It finally got too much that I left for New York, not knowing what I was going to do I looked my sister up who was living in the Bronx. I remember seeing billboard signs that read “Be All That You Can Be”from then on I vowed I would not rely on a man for my living conditions.

I received my train tickets to take me to Fort Jackson South Carolina for my basic training course.

It was quite an experience the first day being in like a dorm like environment with a bunch of other girls. We got fitted for our uniforms and got on a bus and had to hold our heads down so we couldn’t see where we were going. Once we arrived at our destination we had drill sergeants yelling at us and they were there for one reason and that was to make or break you. It was very cold outside but our windows were kept open , the only reason I could think of was, was to stress us out. The next day I remember entering a class room with a picture of a m16 broke down to the firing pin. I remember thinking to myself that there was no way I was ever going to be able to assemble and disassemble this weapon but with practice I did just that and could do it blind folded in a matter of minutes, success!!!! My next task I thought I’d never be able to accomplish was map reading, now you had to find points out in the woods by your pace count, a bunch of us had different points we had to find and all meet back to the starting point, we’ll I was done in 30 min and I didn’t see anyone at the staring point, I kept thinking I must have got my points wrong but I didn’t. I was just really fast. I also realized at the firing range that I was left handed, something of a shock to me. I finished basic training and went on to my on the job training course, which was occupational therapy, It is usually a two year degree in the civilian world that was completed in 28 weeks in the military. Not only was it completed in 28 weeks but a soldier had the opportunity to sit for the civilian board to become certified as a occupational therapist. I studied my butt off and when it came time to take the test I remember looking at the front of the test because the questions just seemed so hard or different from what I studied for. I made a deal with myself that if I passed the test I would get out of the military and if not I would stay in. So, I was on edge until I got the letter in and I was shocked that I had passed!!!

Well I got out and being certified I was able to make a good amount of money in the civilian world to care for me and my family. I did it!!!!! But by no means was I done.