Timeline: Zero-One

1975: I am born in Hometown--a small, largely agricultural town in South Georgia to two teachers. I have a fearless, four year old sister who has hardly been sick a day in her life. My mom's parents live about an hour away and they still talk about loading my grandfather and his broken leg in the back of their big sedan to hurriedly make the drive. When they arrive, my dad tells them that he and Mom have decided on a name--Billie Belle after my grandmothers. Thankfully, he was teasing.

My entrance in to the world was foreshadowing for how I've lived my life. Because my sister was born in 45 minutes, my mom hurried to the hospital with me as well. I ended up deciding to turn around mid stream and we ended up with a long delivery. My mom's doc (who would later become my beloved pediatrician) ended up closing the office and everybody waited me out. When I got close enough, they pulled out the forceps and told me they would wait no more.

The nurses finally disclosed the particulars to the radio station so that my dad's high school students would quit calling. My dad chose my name while my mom was sleeping. 8 years later, we received his alumni newsletter and discovered that his ex-fiance has a daughter with the exact same name. My mom said we were heading to the courthouse.

By all accounts, I was a pain in the ass. Once my mom quit breast feeding, I became very sick. Allergy tests at 8 months revealed multiple allergens and resulted in twice weekly allergy shots for the first 5 years of my life. The only thing that comforted me was my mother. She fell asleep on the floor next to my crib every night holding my hand through the slats. A floor that was covered in linoleum after they had to rip the carpet up because of my allergies. I try to remember this when she is making me crazy today.