My parents and SCHOOL LIFE HAX!

Internet!

My parents.. haha well.. lol. Long story short I have quite a few of these so called "parents", some are slightly better than others haha to put it simply. My dad has been married, not married, married and married once again. Being married more than two or three times must be pretty tough on ones "love shell", as well as being tough on ones emotions! My father, who is now 50 odd years, some where in the middle of 50 and 60 has had quite the interesting life, so to speak.

A lot of shit went down in my dads childhood and young twenties which, naturally, made him into the person that he is. After several mishaps on the marriage front it seems he has now finally settled down with his current wife, one of my ever so many (lol not really) step mothers and they have been together for almost 10 years now! Grats to them and grats to you dad! Statistics show that most couples or marriages end in divorce after a few short years, so just that 10 year mark, which is here soon, not quite yet, will be a feat!

My father grew up, much like my mother and myself in South Africa, some where in the 50's or 60's. I am being vague because I don't wanna give away his age, and to be honest I'm not really so sure any more haha! I definitely don't know the year he was born - but that's just down to the simple fact that i cannot do simple math for diddly shit! He grew up competing at national level for cricket, rugby, boxing and track cycling I believe so naturally he was quite competitive as well as having grown up with a few siblings, notably two brothers, one older and one younger. He was later drafted, or should I say conscripted into the military where he stayed on over the mandatory two years for an additional 15 years, making his total time in the South African military 17 years. He saw combat quite regularly as he was a high ranking officer with in the military and the South African Special Forces which sadly, has led him to be the person that he is today. Not going too deep into that, as it is obviously too personal, he suffers from what is known as PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, aka shell shock. This is actually a lot more common than one thinks and is often diagnosed on former military personnel who have seen combat and even some who have not, but were just subjective to too much training in a short period of time, and kind of burnout.

Nowadays my father lives here in Sweden with his wife and me, spends a lot of time playing scrabble and reading the news. He wrote a book once, about his life, upbringing and even his experiences with in the military. I will have to double check with him to see if I can post it here, but it can be found at Amazon I believe, under books about Africa ;)

My mother in South Africa is a lost cause. It pains me to write this about my very own mother, but what more is there to say? I know now that this is the internet and this post will forever be saved on internet logs for some random person to find but to be honest, I need to face the facts - My mother pretty much abandoned me when I was less than 4 years old. The few memories I have of her are just blurs of her face, hair, general look and her basically ruining her life. Of course I was too young to understand, but I have met her since I was 4, a few times actually but no more than the fingers I have on my two hands lol. I basically grew up with my grandmother who took me and my sister in when my mom went AWOL. I don't have much else to write here actually about her, except I wish her all the best and that she can some how, some day, manage to fix her shit and pull her life together.

Then come the stepmothers. Strangely enough they aren't all that bad, like fairy tales set them out to be. The first one, who is still living in South Africa working for REUTERS I believe, was married to my dad for a few, dunno how many exactly, years and actually took me in at the age of 4, after my grandmother, and raised me as her own side by side with her own son. She was a wonderful person, I honestly do not know how I would have reacted if I was put in that situation. Just the fact that people genuinely care about others well being makes me appreciate being alive so much more. Yes, I said it, being alive. Who knows what would have happened if she hadn't taken me in under her roof, for those 10 years. Big props to you L, despite us growing apart and our many quarrels you took on an immense responsibility and pulled it off with style. Thank you so much.

The second stepmother, or perhaps stepstep mom, or step mom mom, is the one I currently live with here in Stockholm. She is more like a best friend than a mother figure really. We joke a lot together, talk a lot, some times too much lol and just connect very well for some strange reason. I really see that she truly loves my father for who he is, despite his actions in the past and his given history. Once again, another maiden to the rescue, who, with the help of my own father, took me in under their roof in 2005 and opened my eyes to the rest of the world once making the transition from Africa to Europe. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I didn't connect with my first stepmother, it's more the simple fact that I was far too young and immature to even fathom conversing with her. It's a kid thing, what can I say haha. As one grows up, lol I'm only 20 years old but hey!, one realizes that there is so much more to parents than just the people who make dinner and tuck you in at night.

That was just a short my list of all my parents (lol). On a side note; here is a song by Sean Price, repping Heltah Skeltah. It's called Church! This track is illa dope!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, like I said a few days ago; LIFEHAX! Seeing as I just started school I figured I'd share this awesomely in-genius lifehax, which will help you squeeze a bit more time out of your essays in school or Uni!

PEACE!