Dannielle had gone to work when she was 16. She worked at a grocery store for a couple of years in school, and Frank helped her get a car. She rented a small efficiency, and became independent and I was so proud of her. I didn't have much opportunity to spend time with her. She still felt some resentment for me abandoning her. I know she didn't fully understand what I had gone through, but she knew I loved her, she just wasn't sure if she could totally trust that love.

She called me one day, and told me that Frank told her to tell Chris if he wanted a motor cycle that he had, just to come get it. I thought Chris knew what she was talking about. I called him and told him about it. He didn't have a clue, so I told him we could go check it out if he wanted.

He picked me up and we went to Frank's house. It was a really nice bike. Frank said he couldn't keep it running. He had rebuilt the carburetor several times, but it still sputtered. Chris asked what the catch was, and Frank said just bring a trailer and haul it off, I want it gone. The carport of the boarding house had a new addition so that he could come by on his lunch break and work on it.

Lunch time everyday he showed up, and sometimes he actually worked on the bike. One weekend he was there, trying to get it to start. He was cleaning all the little connections. He pulled the cover off the starter and realized there was a tube fuse that had a broken clip. He fixed the clip, installed the tube fuse, and the bike started right up and purred like a kitten.

I laughed so hard my side ached. He said he really hated to tell the guy that was all that was wrong with it, I could not wait. Mr Genius (Nuclear Chemist) had no way to figure out that it was just a fuse. I still laugh out loud when I think about it.

Chris already had a bike that he loved, so he sold that one to pay off the one that he kept, and did a really nice hand paint job on it. He loved his bike, and rode it most everywhere he went.

His mother had a new boyfriend, and Chris wanted to give them some space in the house. He rented the other empty room at the house. It gave him a break, had a nice place to work on his bike, and he felt less dependent on his mom. Of course living under the same roof we became good friends.

We started riding to meetings together, because I had a car, and we even did some district meetings for the group out of town. We were both really involved in everything, and I learned a lot from him. I was with him looking through some pictures he said were his "brothers" from his fathers side. I noticed a picture of one guy on a bicycle that was a church missionary. I could always spot them a mile away. He said that was his brother, his name was also Michael. Wow, that struck a cord. I let it go.

Dannielle graduated from high school, and Chuck went to her graduation with me. When it was over we sat in the parking lot talking. He knew I was getting really close to Chris, and he didn't really like it. He thought he still had me wrapped around his finger. He really didn't like what was happening with me going to these meetings either. He knew I was moving away from him. In a desperate attempt to hang on, he asked me to marry him. I asked him if his Mother knew he was asking and when he said he would tell her soon, I told him No. I swore I would never date a man who had a living Mother again.

The landlord biker/trucker guy, started getting really cranky and his girlfriend didn't feel comfortable spending the night with us there. She had been renting a small trailer from her uncle and offered it to me so she could move in there. Of course I asked Chris to move in too. He was not happy about the fact that there was only one bedroom. I told him, I worked nights, he worked days. I would sleep while he was working, we could have a meal together in the evening and then he could have the bed at night. He finally agreed that we were good enough friends that we could work it out.

I told him not to worry if he wanted to bring a girl home. If he let me know and I would find something to do before going to work. He asked me why I thought he would do that. I told him because he was a healthy young guy and he should feel free to bring a date home if he wanted to. He said yeah sure, okay fine.

There was a category one hurricane that year. Everyone in trailers were told to evacuate, so I went to the school. Chris went to his Mom's house. He offered to take me there also, but I had not yet met his Mother, and I was not comfortable going there just yet. That kinda hurt his feelings, but I didn't know that at the time.

There was a day that he brought home a red rose, and put it in a vase on the table. I did not want to assume that he bought it for me. I just commented how pretty it was. Again he felt a bit dejected. He started riding along with me on my paper route on the week end, and I didn't want to assume it was because he wanted to be with me. I didn't want to assume anything. So, when he came home, and threw this little piece of concrete type stuff on the table, I asked him what it was, he said, "I got bored at work today." I picked it up, looked at it, and was speechless, he had carved my name in it. I told him, that was by far the most romantic thing that anyone had ever done for me. I think he sighed with relief or a FINALLY! There was no doubt that we loved each other. We were best of friends and of course we were more, but I don't know when we actually FELL in Love.

Dannielle had moved into a new house with her high school sweet heart. She got pregnant and I was almost ecstatic. I was gonna be a grandma. Her Doctor was out of town, so I could not go every time to her appointments, but I went when I could. She had a really bad cold, and a family history is that when we get colds they go straight to our chest and we get really deep lung coughs. She had been coughing for days, and she started spotting. I took her to her Doctor, and he pulled me to the side and told me that he was a little concerned but not worried. The cough had caused her to spot, but that was not the issue, that would go away with the medicine he had given her. What was concerning him was that in all the ultra sounds he had done, he had never seen the babies stomach. I didn't even know they could see their organs like that, so I asked what that meant. He said it was possible the baby had just not swallowed yet that day, or it could be that there is a problem with the esophagus. He said not to worry there was a very good Doctor that he would have on standby, if that proved to be the case.

I took her home, and let her stay with me a few days so that I could take care of her. He had given her a medication that would stop any contractions, since she was only 25 weeks, or just a day or two over that. After a couple of days her skin was grey, she was weak and she could barely breath. I rushed her to the doctor who sent her by Ambulance to St Mary's Hospital in West Palm Beach.

I was frantic to get there. I had her rent money under my car seat, and I was so afraid something would happen to her and what I would end up doing with that Money. Chris had been at work so I didn't have a chance to let him know what was going on.

When I got to the hospital I tried to call the NA hot line, and would you believe they put me on hold? I didn't have time to wait, I had to get to my baby girl, she needed her Mom. They admitted her, put her on steroids to help the baby grown and did everything they could to keep him inside her as long as they could.

I was driving back and forth between the hospital and home every day. I would go home long enough to grab a shower and head out to do the paper route. When I got done, I went home, ate breakfast, had a pot of coffee then headed back to the hospital.

About 10 days later, Chris was off work for some reason, and he asked me if he could go with me, OH MY GOD YES! I wasn't sure I could drive that one more day. So we go off to the hospital, We had been visiting for a while so Chris and I decided to go to the cafeteria to get some coffee and maybe something to eat. We got about half way back up the hall, and a page went out over the loud speaker for the doctor to come to a room number. It was my daughters room, I started running. I got to the nurses station and heard someone say, room soso was gonna have a baby today. WHAT I was not planning on That.

I immediately started trying to get a hold of the Baby's Daddy. Chris would go get him if he had to. He was no where to be found. I called Danielle's step mom and let her and Frank know that she was in labor. Frank was working but his wife headed over. Chris was head over heals with the experience, and he was very calming for her. He was such a jokester, and Dannielle is one to never show emotion.

She would have a contraction and if the machine had not beeped we would not have known it. He showed her the chart on the wall, and told her she was supposed to make one of these faces so we could tell where she was in her labor. She actually busted out laughing at that. It took a few hours, but they finally called the doctor in to deliver the baby. He was born at 27 weeks gestation, he weighted 1 pound and 13 ounces and was 13 inches long, and when he came out, he cried. He should not have been able to cry out. That really surprised the Doctor.

It turned out that he did not have an esophagus, so they had to do surgery to drain his throat out his neck so he would not drown in saliva. They put in a feeding tube for nutrition and he was in the hospital for two months before he could come home.

On the way home after his birth, I was so worried that Dannielle would not bond with him that first night. She did and loved him more than anything. She was a great mom and had so much patience with his issues.

From the moment of his birth I knew he was truly a miracle. The more he grew and progressed more of the miracle appeared. (Remember my Linda had died as at 24 hours old? She was 8 months gestation.) He never had a moment of breathing issues. His lungs should not have been that developed even with the steroids they had given her. His heart was strong and steady. These things we knew before he ever came home from the hospital, but as he grew we realized he was right on target of where he would be if he had been born at 9 months. We rolled over when he should have, sat up when he should have, crawled, walked so on and so forth. They tested his hearing and it was fine, his vision was fine.. He had so many test the poor thing felt like a guinea pig. The only problem he had was the esophagus.

His stomach finally got big enough when he was a year and half old, that they could do the surgery to create an esophagus for him. They had to take half his stomach and form it into the right shape and attach his throat to his stomach. Finally after he healed, he could eat. Real Food and swallow it. Another miracle.

I could write a whole book just on this Miracle Child, but this one is about how my faith was largely restored at that time by his existence. I wanted him to always know what that he is a miracle.

The lawsuit for the car accident finally settled and I got enough money to pay off my probation, make a down payment on a car for me, and a truck for Chris and give him a really special Christmas surprise. It felt like things were beginning to come together.

I was really sick with what I can only assume was pneumonia. I had it before, so I knew what it felt like. I tried to rest as much as I could, but I still could not get a sub to run my paper route. I had to work through it. I needed to rest so I missed a few meetings to rest.

I had paid off my probation fees to the end in advance. I still had about 6 months left to serve. I didn't want the fees hanging over my head so I paid them off. The next day my sister called me and said a friend of ours (I had actually gone to school with him) who was a sheriffs deputy said he had just gotten a warrant for my arrest. He said I should come turn myself in, do a walk through and they would release me. What on earth was I being arrested for.

My probation officer, who really did not like me from the beginning, had violated me for #1, lack of payment of funds, and #2, not attending AA meetings. I called my attorney, we had a meeting. I gave her the receipt where I had just paid off my fees, in advance, and showed my NA 1 year medallion that signified I had been attending meetings for a year.

I had my day in court, and my attorney never said a word. The judge was having a bad day and when I tried to tell him about my receipt, and medallion he told me I was in enough trouble and need to keep my mouth shut. I just looked at my attorney. He found me guilty, which meant that my charges would not disappear like it was agreed to, and now I had to pay all those fees all over again. It made no difference that I had paid 6 months in advance.

I went to the probation office and asked who my officer would be and they told me I would have the same one. I put my hands out and told them to take me to jail. I would rather sit in jail for the next 6 months than have to deal with someone who was never going to let me succeed. He was that kind of guy. I was not the only one he did this sort of thing with. Rarely did one of his clients ever succeed.

I served the rest of my time with a new officer who was really great. There was no problem paying the fees, since I was making really good money, Chris was working and life was going pretty good.

Things had changed so much and I felt so good, I knew the future was ahead and I was facing New Adventures!