Growing up different wasn’t always easy for me. My dad, Anthony Smigelski Jr., worked as an active duty officer in the Coast Guard and my mom, Claudia Smigelski, worked as a registered nurse. In 1976 it was illegal to perform an abortion in New Orleans, Louisiana so my parents, who were unsuccessful having their own children, moved to Louisiana in hopes they would have a better change to adopt a baby. On April 2, 1976 they got their wish; I was delivered to their home in Gretna, LA when I was only 10 days old. It wasn’t long after my parents got me that my father was transferred to Governor’s Island, NY when I was two years old. By this time it seems as if I was my parent’s lucky penny, when I was four years old my sister Christine was born. …show more content…
I wasn’t their special baby; I was more like their problem child. Our household was run like a military base. My father barked orders while my mother reared the children. When I was a child I felt like my dad’s favorite. I played sports, dug in the dirt, played sports and just wanted to be around my dad. As time progressed and I got older and more rules applied to me. Most of the rules were made up as my dad went along and were very strict. I wasn’t very good about following such strict rules and occasionally stepped out of line. My dad had his hot buttons when it came to the rules and if I broke them it sent his mood spiraling out of control. The two biggest rules to follow were to never question my father and always do as I was told to. Easier said than done when the rules were unclear and ever changing. What was very clean and never changing were the consequences to broken rules or disobeying. The consequence to disobeying or breaking rules was my dad’s anger; the way he dealt with his anger is a whole other story. The punishments ranged from being grounded for a week to dodging a hammer as it wizzes past my head to a backhand slap to my face. I never knew what kind of day it would be but I know for sure if anyone was going to take the heat it was going to be