My story began at Parkland Hospital in Dallas Texas on November 10, 1965 when I was born Carrol Ann Davis. Weighing 5 pounds at birth, I lost down to 3 pounds when the doctors told my mother I would have to gain back up to 5 pounds before she would be able to take me home. I remained very petite all my life. Even today at the age of 49, at the height of 4’10” weighing in at only 100 pounds. I grew up in Dallas with my older brother, my dad and his parents, two of the most loving grandparents anyone could have had.
I always considered myself blessed with two sets of parents, my birth parents and my grandparents. My mom and dad were divorced from the time I was born, and my dad always living with my grandparents where they helped him in raising both me and my brother and so my grandmother was more of my mom as any mom could be. She always told me I was the daughter she never had. I couldn’t have asked for a better mom than her. I was truly blessed. I started school at age 6 due to my birthday being after September.
When I was in 1st or 2nd grade they called my dad to come to school to discuss the spelling of my name. It seemed I was spelling it Carol, as I was always taught to be correct and even my dad believed to be the correct way in spelling, when they politely said was incorrect. On that day they informed me and my dad that I was to spell it “Carrol” as it was spelled on my birth certificate and by law had to be spelled just that way. My dad told me he never knew until that day that that is how it was spelled on my birth certificate.
I still have never found out who or why it was spelled that way. However all my life and even sometimes still I have to give people the correct spelling for many different things necessary. At the age of 13 approaching the end of 7th grade I received a report card with all A’s. I couldn’t believe that I had become a straight A student. I even received in the mail a letter from the Attorney General congratulating me on my achievement. Then started receiving offers from high schools to go to a school of trade or business. We called them Magnet schools then. One being Skyline at that time.
Not realizing really what it all meant then, I turned it down. And directly after that I met what would soon be my husband. I was 13 and he was 18, a man whose little brother I went to school with. After we met life as I knew it then changed forever. My dad of course did not agree and forbid it. The only way my dad knew to stop it was sending me to live with my mother. So then about a year and half later living in Kemp, only a short distance from Dallas, James, my husband now came to see me with my mother’s approval. A few months after my 15th birthday I discovered I was pregnant.
This is when I also discovered that all though my dad raised both my brother and I, my mom had paper legal custody. My parent’s agreement in their divorce. So with that my mom agreed to let us marry. And at the age of 15 on February 13, 1981 I was married. Five months later, July 26, 1981 my daughter was born then five years after that, almost to the day, July 23, 1986, my son was born. My husband James and I actually just celebrated 34 years this month on Friday the 13th. I dropped out of school at the age of 15 after finding out I was pregnant.
Two years later at the age of 17 I tried to go back but was unable to afford babysitting and go to school full-time. When I attempted to get my GED they informed me I was too young. So I gave up. At the age of 19 I landed a job with Hartford Insurance Group where I worked for 13 years. I started out in the mail room and had worked my way up the ladder to Claims Service Representative. Earned an Adjusters License in Workers Compensation. However, still lacking the necessary educational background there were no further advancements for me.
I got aggravated and left the company. Then about 10 years later, at the age of 44, my husband James of 30 years and I made some really bad choices that landed us both in jail. However it was then and there where I was able to go to school and get my GED. The main goal in my life was to get my GED, now here I was, not somewhere I ever expected to be and most certainly not proud of, but when I received that certificate of achievement I was very proud. Something I had longed for and pretty much gave up on ever receiving.
After that I was even more determined to continue with my goal or as I choose to call it, my dream, and that is to continue my education by going to college. I always loved mathematics, working with numbers and wanted to own my own business someday. My goal now is to earn a degree in Business Management along with Accounting. I’m none to happy with some of the choices I’ve made in life but I am a very proud wife of 34 years, mother of two and grandmother of four. I feel I’m finally reaching my goals and dreams that I have longed for since a very young age and very determined to succeed.
