Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strain)

When I started going to “Bible School” (a small, religious school) instead of public school, I learned that people are always going to judge you. NO matter what you do or how hard you try, someone is going to have something negative to say. It’s unfortunate for me that I’ve always cared what people have to say. I understand that some people don’t have that problem. Good for them.

I wasn’t fully aware of what went on around me most of the time. I had a keen intuition and almost no perception of events as they happened. For instance, I didn’t think anything of it when we started having church Bible studies at our house. I didn’t think anything of it when the preacher spent more time at our house than his wife. I didn’t notice, as the weeks and months passed by, that the preacher was spending more time at our house without his wife when my dad wasn’t home. I did, however, notice that things weren’t as comfortable at home.

At first, it didn’t seem to be that big of a deal to anyone involved. The preacher was counseling my parents on their marriage difficulties and naturally that meant spending more time around them. Progressively, though, insidious little things grew more obvious. My grandma next door, who often helped Mom with ironing and laundry now and then would get a request to hem up something of the preachers. Grandma didn’t got to the church we went to, but since she helped Mom and Mom helped the preacher, she found herself also helping the preacher. All of these little things started out small and no one seemed to think anything of them at first. As they grew more noticeable, the tension in my home grew exponentially.