My name is Joni Caggiano and I grew up in a military family with two alcoholic parents. Our family moved frequently, but North Carolina was the state we always seemed to revisit and the South is currently my home again.
Due to the often drunken state of both my parents I was put into situations, as a small child, in which I should have never been permitted and was sexually molested as a result of that. No child nor person should ever have to experience this, especially perpetrated by family members or friends of the family.
I was often left unattended as a child throughout the evenings and was almost always without any real parental supervision. I found a safe haven amongst the majestic oaks and giant old pine trees that surrounded our secluded house in North Carolina.
My ultimate escape when needed, was my boundless imagination, which was both a blessing and a curse. For my imaginings could conjure horrifying things that might happen to me every time I closed my eyes.
It took two marriages for me to grow up and find a man with whom I am now equally yoked. This was and continues to be a long and challenging path, as I believe is the case with most gratifying marriages. My husband and I share a modest but comfortable home in North Carolina and love and care for one another. Our Lord is the one we both put our faith in and through his love we flourish.
My biggest blessing from my first marriage was my astonishing daughter. She was and continues to be a blessing to me every single day. The day she was born the blessings began, starting with the moment I barked at the nurse to put her into my arms immediately so I could look upon her face.
It was so important to me that she was raised in a home where she felt completely safe. Also, because I could never bring anyone home while I was growing up, it was imperative to me that my daughter felt she could fill the house with her friends and boy did she! Our home was always crowded with her girlfriends and often their boyfriends and this brought me immense happiness.
My daughter was active in various sports and her father and I were always present to support her and her fellow team mates. She was accomplished at whatever she set her mind to do. She graduated from college with a Masters in International Political Economics.
My daughter is an extremely successful woman who is a vice president in the company she works for today. She also works with the company’s foundation, which is exclusively funded by the company’s owner, which provides disaster relief all over the world. She has also started her own self-funded foundation with similar objectives.
Obviously, I had to actively seek counseling for myself and read many books, which helped me to understand why I did many of the things I did as a young adult. The important thing is that I sought help and that I was not ashamed to talk about my childhood. I was a child and a teenager who should have been taken care of, but I wasn’t. Absolutely none of that was my fault!
So with professional help I found my way to a healthy and happy life, but it was a lot of work and it took many long years. Occasionally, there are still days when the sadness and clouds roll into my world and remind me of all the losses in my life, but we must remain thankful for the present. I am grateful to be alive and to be blessed with a husband and child I love very much. God has been astonishingly ever-present and kind to me, always the lighthouse amongst the storm.
There are also days I wish my parents were still here. They were both sober for at least two years before they died. They were unfortunately also gone by the time I was in my late twenties. A young woman needs her mother and her father and I miss them.
My college involved training as a nurse and a para-legal as well as having a long career in the Human Resources industry, which often included careers in the medical field. However, my true passion has always been writing which I have been doing since I was thirteen years old.
I believe Adult Children can grow up to be remarkably imaginative and creative individuals. We learn to channel our energy and talents into something we relish to provide an avenue for growth and freedom while on our journey to a happy life!
My prayer is that this blog will be a venue in which to share my own thoughts, stories and path to recovery. My hope is that by doing so, you may be helped some where along the way. This would be a great blessing to me!
I welcome your feedback and look forward to reading your comments to my blog entries.