Wow listening to all these stories is great. I wish I had something to share... but I don't, my life is boring and lonely. Oh well.
Ok, I'll share with you the story of my mate Jason. Now I'm warning you all that this is probably the longest post I'll ever post on any internet forum in my life, possibly even the longest ever on The Kennel, but I think it's worth the read. You know how some people use the expression "life story" very loosely? Well, this isn't loose. I met Jason a few years ago through my circle of friends and we get along great, so great that he did tell me literally, his life story one night when we were having a few beers. Quite a read guys, so get comfy and you might want to grab a box of tissues as well...
Jason's father was a successful man who owned an apartment complex, complete with 6 apartments. He also owned a gym with an adjoining home which he leased as a business investment. He also owned a nice 3 bedroom single story brick house, the perfect home for a young family. Jason's mother caught his father's eye. She came to Australia for a better life from Spain. His father being the successful businessman he was, was quite a good catch. So they dated for about 18 months then tied the knot. As Jason's dad was a office manager as well as investor, he was quite comfortable with money but still wanted Jason's mother to work as he wanted to bring up their family in a working-class way. So she got a job as a bank teller.
Fast forward a few months, and she was pregnant with Jason. Now Jason's father had big plans. Family holidays every year, happy times, memories, taking his son to Saturday morning sports and being father of year. But sometimes... life just throws you a curveball... and here it comes.
Very late into her pregnant, Jason's mother was experiencing pain, and decided to get herself checked out. She contracted a very rare pregnancy condition that was very serious. The doctors advised her that if she proceeded with the pregnancy, she would have a <10% chance of survival, and urged her to abort. Jason's dad also begged her to let him go. Being a practicing Catholic woman, she said she would rather die than kill her unborn son - that's the type of woman that she was.
Now Jason's mother fought and fought and fought and eventually gave birth to Jason. As soon as Jason was out, the doctors immediately began operating on her, but there was nothing they could do. She was legally dead as soon as Jason popped out. It was a bitter sweet for Jason's dad. He dad was too proud to re-marry despite his success. He loved his wife and was determined to raise Jason on his own.
Being a single parent and raising a child alone was proving to be too difficult for Jason's father. He had to deal with a lot of stress in life, work, and at home, raising a child all on his own. He decided to turn to something to help ease the stress... alcohol. Now it wasn't too bad at first. He used to come home tipsy and just go to sleep. Jason would have no dinner, no help with his homework and no one to help him have a bath. Pretty tough for a now 7 year old kid to take.
Things progressively started getting worse. His dad would frequent the pub now almost everyday after work, and Jason would go days without having dinner. He would only eat fruit or bread, even cereal, whatever was in the fridge. Not a proper meal. That would also be his lunch. Jason's dad became very reliant on alcohol that he became addicted to it now. He would come home drunk, and often beat up Jason for no reason other than to say that he is the reason why his wife died and he ruined his life. He would say this so frequently to Jason that Jason actually believed him. He was scared to come home after school every day and couldn't wait to leave the house in the morning.
On the second-last day of school when he was in year 4, Jason's dad came home drunk as usual, about 7pm, and headed straight for the bathroom. Jason was in there tough having a bath. His dad banged on the door telling him to open up as he needed to piss. Jason said "Ok I'm hurrying, give me a minute." A minute wasn't soon enough. His father was screaming at him now. As soon as Jason unlocked the door, his father pushed it open smacking the door back into Jason's face and went straight for the toilet. He didn't even acknowledge what he had done. Jason went to his room and began crying. Jason's father came back now and tried to apologise. Jason didn't want to hear it. He father told him to knock off the crying. When Jason didn't, his father grabbed his arm. Jason pulled his arm back. His dad grabbed his arm again Jason push it back again even harder.
*Queue the brain explosion*
Jason's father raged and punched him square in the right eye, knocking Jason to the ground. Jason didn't cry, but he was in shock, laying flat on his back. All the years of abuse where calculated attacks where Jason was hit in areas of his body that his school uniform would conceal. Not this one. Jason's father immediately knew that in one moment of sheer madness, he had gone too far! There was no covering or turning back from this. Seeing his son lying there on the floor, Jason's dad "tsk" and stumbled back. The next thing Jason heard was his father walking to his room then slamming the bedroom door shut.
Jason lay there motionless for an hour in utter shock. He eventually got up about 8:30pm to brush his teeth and go to bed when he saw his badly swollen black eye in the mirror. He knew that his father was in trouble because there was no hiding that evidence at school. After brushing his teeth, Jason went to bed weeping and sobbing.
The following day, the last day of school and last day of year 4, Jason got up to go to school, and he noticed his dads bedroom door was still shut from the night before. On the way to school, he didn't know what to say to everyone. He was thinking of something good to say over and over again in his head. When finally prompted, he came up with the perfect story... "it's not what it looks like. I was playing footy with the neighbours and got elbowed in the eye." and his friends believed him. He was questioned by his teacher and he said the same thing. His teacher wasn't buying it but was powerless to do much as he insisted that it was a yard footy injury. Jason was eventually called to the Principal's office, but he stuck to his story and nothing much more could be done from the school.
The last day of school finished, and Jason headed off home. As he turned the corner into his street, he saw an ambulance and police car parked in front of his house. Jason knew what was going on straight away. He ran towards his house screaming and shouting, and then he saw the ambulance stretcher with a sheet over it. It was his dad. He was screaming and crying, but the police were restraining him. He was scared and not sure what was going on.
His father had gone whisky crazy and contracted severe alcohol poisoning, and his liver failed. The police were called due to a domestic disturbance, as in his drunken state, his dad was making quite the racket, and they found the body collapsed on the floor when they arrived.
Jason was then immediately placed into the care of the state, and the former department known as DoCS (Department of Community Service), had placed him in the care of a foster family who would control his inherited fathers assets except the money. His foster parents had a teenage girl and a boy who was about Jason's age. This was Jason's chance to start a new life. New school, new family, new start.
No such luck.
In the new school year, word quickly spread about Jason being an orphan, and this lead to him being teased. Jason was used to this sort of thing, so this new life that he thought he had turned out to be a disappointment. Teasing in year 5 turned into him being physically bullied by year 6. His foster father decided that putting Jason in self defense classes was calling, so Jason started studying Martial Arts 3-4 nights a week. He took a liking to this and quickly graduated from belt to belt and was quite a fighter by year 8, and in year 9, he was involved in a very physical fight where the instigator (the bully) came off second best. Jason beat the shit out him so much that the bully required plastic surgery to his face.
Jason was expelled for that, however was at a new school fairly soon.
During his time away from school, Jason started talking to his mothers friends. He wanted them to tell him about his mother so he can find out what kind of person she was, and although they all had their tales and stories of adventures, they all said the same things about his mother, that she was caring, loving, self-less and the kindest person they knew. These visits to his mothers friends continued throughout his teenage years. This became a regular occurrence for Jason.
At his new school, Jason was again the subject of bullying, and was often involved in fights, but not as bad. He was still studying Martial Arts, however he was also very socially awkward and couldn't make friends and didn't trust anyone. As a result he didn't hang out with anyone in the yard, he would simply wait outside the classroom of the next class that followed after lunch and eat his food there. Jason fell into a state of depression and was hanging by a thread.
One such Friday, he was waiting outside the classroom balcony on the 3rd floor of a building during lunchtime and was looking at all the kids down in the yard playing handball and sitting hanging out with each other, laughing, talking and just being mates. His bag was leaning against the classroom door. The bent over towards his bag to get a sandwich out and felt a sharp blow to his back. He was struck in the middle of his back right in the centre his spine by a friend of the bully who he had badly beaten at his previous school. He couldn't get up. He managed to roll himself over and saw the guy standing over him. I think he said his name was Jonathan or something like that.
He looked up and Jonathan was close to Jason and Jason thought that was it, he was committing suicide before the day was out, and the straw had finally broken the camels back, but before he could even say anything, Jason saw Jonathan's eyes light up. He had been grabbed from behind by a big Samoan bloke (Nick) and pushed to the other side of the balcony and went sliding along the smooth concrete about 5 metres. He got up when he saw Nick and bolted to the stair case on the other side of the balcony when he saw a huge Tongan bloke, Tommy, come up that very staircase. He was cornered. Nick one side, Tommy another. He tried to get them to chill out but they didn't want to hear it. Nick grabbed him but the shirt collar and elevated him off the ground and got in his face... "WE'VE SEEN YOU BULLY THIS GUY EVERY FUCKEN DAY THIS YEAR, AND I'M SICK OF IT. IT STOPS NOW, OR ELSE I WILL KILL YA!" and then he let Jonathan down, and he went running off like a rat.
Then both guys went and helped Jason up. Tommy also carried Jason's bag. They helped him slowly walk down the stairs. When they got to the bottom, everyone in the yard stopped what they were doing and looked at them - even the teacher on yard duty. You could heard a pin drop. Two big Polynesian guys helping a social outcast get across the yard, standing by him, acting almost like bodyguards. They escorted Jason to the sick bay and he got checked out by the nurse. Lucky it was nothing serious, just a nasty bruise on his back.
The following Monday at school before it began, Jason was standing awkwardly in the yard not too far from the guys who helped him. They were part of a big group known as the "Fruit Salad" as they had a mix of everyone. Polys, Lebs, Asians, Wogs... a bit of everything. Nick called Jason over and told him to hang out with them. The was a significant part of Jason's life. He had friends. Real friends. Jason was still a little socially awkward so only hung out with them at school, but the following year also hung out with them on weekends, while still maintaining contact with his mothers friends too.
So, the HSC came around. Jason was studying hard and started excelling school and making time for all the important people in his life. Jason turned 18 halfway during the HSC but his foster parents allowed him to stay with them until they got their results back. After the HSC, Jason's friends organised a trip to Schoolies. They booked 8 rooms in one hotel. Jason thought that was a little too much for a group of friends, but that was until he saw who else came. The fruit salads counterparts, a fruit salad group from a neighbouring girls school. Now Jason had never encountered women before, so this was all new to him.
The first night of Schoolies Jason went down to the beach partying and stayed there very late. He came back to the hotel, and slept in all day. That night he got ready to go out again and meet the boys down there. There was a knock on the hotel door. He opened it up it was Shirley. A Chinese girl, part of the girls group. She wanted to know if any of her friends were in Jasons room as she couldn't find them and Jason said "No, let's go down to the beach" but Shirley had other ideas. She knew Jason was socially awkward and convinced him to stay. They started talking while sitting on the couch... one thing lead to another, and... yep. You guessed it. Jason had gone from socially awkward to a player. Just like that. Shirley went back to her room the next morning.
The next night Jason was again getting ready to go down as the boys already went. There was a knock at the door, and Jason thought it was Shirley. It was in fact Julia, an Italian member of the girls crew. By this stage, Jason *thinks* that Shirley told her about what happened the night before, and then... Julia came to ask for some sugar. I hope you know what I mean. Jason had no sugar, but he certainly gave her some cream. Catch my drift? Jason was on a streak here. 2 in 2 days.
Now the same story again happened the following day, but this time the boys were in the room with Jason. The knock came and Jason answered it. This time it was Sonya, the Serbian stunner. The boys immediately knew why she was there and legged it leaving her alone with Jason. It was all clear now. The boys had arranged for this to happen all along, they arranged for the girls to take care of their mate. And yes, she took care of him indeed.
The following day, their last day there, Jason was intent on partying and he did just that and enjoyed himself, without the company of the girls. He actually went to the beaches and nightclubs before catching his flight home the following night. Jason didn't really see much of his friends after that day though as he didn't have a mobile phone and moved out of the foster family home. He thought it was in his best intentions to start fresh. He also grew stronger in his Catholic faith as he wanted to do his mother proud who was watching over him.
The HSC results came in and Jason done well. He got what he wanted to study a diploma in sports administration or something like that. He got into uni. Now it was time for Jason to move out of his foster family's home. He couldn't bring himself to go back to the house of horrors he grew up in, and he was getting good rent from that house and the apartments too, so he decided to go a little left field and go for the gym adjoining property.
Over the years when Jason was living with his foster family, the gym went out of business and became abandoned and his foster father couldn't be bothered trying to refurbish, rent or try to get the business running again... and here was Jason with 3 free months until uni started. He began restoring the rundown venue. He moved into the adjoining house, and started buying new furniture and appliances. He got the gym walls repainted a fresh coat of white, the ceiling was completely changed (new gyp-rock), got the floorboards scraped and re-polished, got the squash courts lines re-taped, removed the dusty, small boxing ring and added a new bigger one, and changed the boxing bags and got some new equipment. There was also a bar there that he removed and put an office in it's place, and just added a vending machine with energy drink in it instead. The money he had accumulated in rent over the 8 years from 7 different properties did add up, and as his foster father wasn't allowed to withdraw from it, he had plenty to spend. He got an ABN, brought his ideas to the table, put and add out and hired some PT's, and was in business.
By the time uni started, the gym was up and running. It wasn't smooth sailing at all to begin with. In fact he began operating with a loss which is fine and what he expected. However as the months and years went on, the business started picking up. He had hired 2 additional trainers, rented out one of the squash courts every Friday night to a Judo school, signed a contract with a school for them to use 2-3 of the courts every Thursday of the year as part of the sports program, and also trained a girls only self defense clubs 2 nights per week.
Time went on, he graduated from uni and decided that he wanted to continue running the gym fulltime and that was his calling in life. Things were now stable. Fast forward a few more years... Jason was now 34 (this is his life story remember). Now I can't remember the finer details of who it was, but he was sitting at the counter of the gym one day and a rather unorthodox person entered who did not look like a gym patron nor did he look like someone who was wanting to join. This person was suited up and meant business. Jason told me this person was probably a Government social/welfare worker or private detective of some kind, and they were looking for him. They had found him. Now this guy meant business and wanted to talk to Jason alone. So he got one of the PTs to mind the counter and he took him inside his office.
This guy had a manilla folder with him, obviously a file for his work. He asked Jason very direct questions, and wanted Jason to give him a direct answer. He read out the full names of 3 young ladies and wanted Jason to say either yes or no if he knew of them. Shirley... Julia... Sonya... all of which Jason responded yes to. Then he was asked if he knew them socially, to which Jason replied that he hasn't seen or heard from them in about 16 years, but the short time he did know them, yes, he knew them socially. The next question was whether he knew them sexually. Again, the answer for all 3, yes.
Now comes the bad news.
The mystery person told Jason that all 3 of these ladies had died young. If I remember correctly, Shirley died due to illness, Julia died from a drug overdose, and Sonya was involved in a car accident... but... they did not leave this planet without a footprint. They each left 2 footprints. 2 very little footprints. 2 very little footprints that would crawl around, then stand up and walk. That's right. Each one of these ladies gave birth to a baby girl. Jason just found out he was the father of 3 girls, who were all born within a week of each other. They had all lost their mother at a very young age (like Jason) and didn't have a helpful father around at all (again, like Jason). In fact the girls were also taken in foster care by the state at different stages after their 'single parent' mothers had died and all lived under the same roof together (they were sisters after all).
Jason couldn't believe it. He was a father to 3 16 year old girls. He looked at the file the mysterious person was holding and asked if he had a photo, which the guy pulled out to show him. Jason saw the photo and immediately teared up. He said he wanted to meet them. The reason the guy was there meeting him to begin with was because they wanted to meet him, which is why they hired him to track their dad down. A meeting was arranged the following day.
Jason met his babies in a public place under the watchful eye of the foster parents. He embraced all his babies and didn't want the hug to end. They embraced for a good 5 minutes. Jason then told them that he didn't even know they existed until the visit from the mysterious man the day prior. He told them had he known they existed, he would've been there for them, all of them, from birth, because he knew what it was like to grow up in their shoes. He then proceeded to tell them his life story... every bit of content in all the paragraphs above. He asked his daughters to forgive him, but they were very understanding and they told him they won't forgive him because he did nothing wrong.
Jason convinved his daughters to continue living with their foster family until they were 18 and had finished the HSC, and let them concentrate on study, then move in with him when they were 18 and finished high school. He didn't want to have a legal fight on his hands with the state, and knew it wasn't fair to the foster family who took them in and raised them. However he remained in close contact with them. Phone calls every day, visits every weekend.
He did admit the most awkward conversation he had with his daughters was that of no sex before marriage, which was ironic given that the 3 of them had been concieved without married parents. He managed to get them on board with this though.
Once they turned 18 and finished school, they moved in with their dad. Jason was living the dream as the life he contemplated giving up was finally kicking off for him at 36 years of age.
Jason continues to visit his mother 4 times a year. Before Christmas, on Easter, on her Birthday, and on mothers day. He takes his daughters with him now too.
I feel for ya mate.
