InsaneJournal

It all began in 1967. The times were fine, peace was all the rage, drugs were a must, and nearly everyone and their mother owned a tie-dyed t-shirt. Including Dave McGillicuddy. It was the first thing Shirley Matthews noticed about Dave when she sat down next to him in her sophomore biology class at Georgia State University. Dave was a raging hippie while Shirley maintained the much more conservative southern ideals that she had been raised on. Their vastly different personalities made for an interesting combination when they became lab partners. Shirley knew it was going to be a bad semester when Dave offered to pay her twenty bucks if she let him cheat off of her exams. Much to Shirley's surprise, however, she soon found as lectures drew longer and tests became harder, Dave was the one thing that kept her sane. When the class ended and the two parted ways, they thought their time together was over. Little did they know, a few weeks later they would reunite at a party, both recently broken-up and both very single and ready to mingle. A year after they graduated, Dave proposed and the two have been together ever sense.

They were the ultimate southern couple, that is, after Dave grew out of his crazy hippie phase. He continued on to law school, while Shirley began working as an elementary school teacher. They were happy and wealthy and would soon be the proud parents of their first son, Jonathon. John was followed by Joshua, who was followed by June, who was followed by Jessica. The growing family found they could no longer survive in their small apartment and ventured on to bigger and better things. Atlanta. Dave opened a law firm with his two best friends from law school and the McGillicuddy family moved into one big ass house that became the envy of all their friends. June, however, wouldn't remember much about the move, because she was only a year old. She was a bouncing baby girl that had more energy than any of their other children had had at her age. She cried and screamed and kicked all night long, and as she grew into a toddler, she gave a whole new meaning to "The Terrible Twos." Quite ready to ship June off to someplace that was not their house, she settled down a bit and her parents stopped threatening to give her up for adoption.

When June began kindergarten, Shirley decided to quit her job to stay home with her children, who were all in school, finally. Shirley's excuse was that someone needed to stay home and watch the house, do the laundry, clean, etc., and she wouldn't dare think about hiring someone. June had become a vastly different child in the few short years between being a toddler and starting school. She became very shy and quiet, which was very different than her older siblings who were all very loud, involved in school, and popular. Her grades were good, but her teachers were concerned over her lack of friends and lack of interest in things. Dave and Shirley weren't worried, because June was doing just fine at home. It just took her a while to warm up to people, and like her psycho baby phase, they were sure she would grow out of this phase, as well.

And, she did. By middle school, June had broken out of her shell and had, incidentally, become something of a girly girl. She was on the cheerleading squad, had made lots of friends and was still able to maintain good grades. She had a lot of standards to live up to, considering all of her older siblings had all excelled at something, whether it was sports, choir, or making the honor society. The pressure got to June and by the time she entered high school, she had turned into quite the rebel. Instead of becoming that charming southern belle that Shirley had been hoping for, June became a troublemaker. She went through boyfriend after boyfriend and was constantly getting in trouble at school. She talked back to teachers, and her parents and worst of all, she'd stopped attending church! Like all her other phases, this one passed as soon as it had began. By her senior year, June snapped back into shape and had her grades top notch again. She settled with a steady boyfriend and had dreams of becoming a teacher, like her mother. She graduated high school with honors, and followed her boyfriend to The Ohio State University, much to her parents protesting.

All of the changes June had gone through in her life had molded her into the person she was slowly becoming. College only aided in her journey to self-discovery. Still very shy around people she didn't know well, June also had a habit of speaking before thinking. When she felt passionately about something, she wasn't afraid to let people know it. She had a strange sense of humor that not everyone could appreciate, and still clung to some of those strict southern beliefs she had been raised on. College was a breeze for June, and after dumping her boyfriend during her sophomore year, and regretting her choice of school, she transferred back to Georgia State University to be closer to her family and to finish up her degree in education. She couldn't help it, she was close to her family and she couldn't stand being that far away from them. That would change however, as soon as Shirley began to dictate June's life. Shirley had never been a controlling mother. She had let her children make their own mistakes, but Shirley saw an opportunity in June. As Shirley aged and began to feel like her life was over, she decided to live vicariously through June, however, she wasn’t quite doing it like Shirley wanted. Shirley began criticizing every decision June made. She hated every boyfriend she had, and even began to critique June's appearance. She warned June that she would never attract a husband and would undoubtedly be alone the rest of her life. Everyone noticed the change in Shirley, but no one made a big deal out of it. June, however, couldn't handle it much longer. After she graduated from Georgia State, she decided it was time to move away. She choose a job teaching 6th grade in Houston, Texas.

June loved her job as a teacher, and despite her mother's constant phone calls and criticism, she was content in her life. It was only appropriate that on one of her weekly trips to the market after work, she would accidentally crash her shopping cart into a cute stranger in the bread aisle. His name was Noah Johnson, and he was a God. He was the perfect southern gentleman and politely apologized to June and then asked for her phone number. The two had dinner the next evening, and fell in love shortly after. This was the one thing June was certain her mother would be proud of her for, and she was right. Shirley loved him, and being the meddling mother that she was, she pushed and pushed for the two to marry. All that pushing must have worked, because a year after meeting, Noah proposed. They married a few months later and settled into a happy routine. June taught, Noah was a journalist and the two were happy together.

Shirley, of course, was begging for grandchildren the second after the wedding ceremony, but June and Noah wanted to wait a few years. And, a few years they waited, until one day June discovered she was pregnant. Samuel Johnson was born on August 19th, 2003 and as far as June was concerned, her life was complete. However, happiness cannot last forever, and as soon as one thing goes right in your life, something else goes wrong. On the day of Sam's first birthday, Noah was almost two hours late to the party. June was pissed, and later that evening he confessed that he had been late because he was seeing another woman and that he thought maybe they should separate for a while. June wasn't having none of that, and a few days later, she served him with divorce papers. She packed up Sam and moved back in with her parents until the divorce was final and she could get back on her feet. She took some time off from her job and let her parents, who were more than willing, support her and Sam. They were happy to have her back and loved having Sam around.

It was almost a year before June was able to accept the reality of her life and move on. So, her marriage had failed, and her son had to live in a broken home, and she was living with her parents, and she had no job. It was time to move past that and try to change some things. Craving a new start, June began searching for jobs as far away from Georgia as she could. She found a school that was seeking a substitute teacher to fill in for another teacher who was about to take maternity leave. The job seemed perfect, and even better, it was located in Los Angeles, California. Figuring that was probably as far away as she could get, she took the job and moved into a small apartment in the city. It was a little more than June could handle, Los Angeles, and after Noah decided to move closer to the city with his new fiancée, June decided that perhaps maybe L.A. wasn't for her. She finished her job, and moved to the suburbs of San Diego to take some time off and try and make sure she wasn't harming Sam too much with all the moves and the divorce and everything else that had happened.

After taking another year off, June decided to return to the big city, upon her son's request to be closer to his daddy and because he liked the lights. She took yet another teaching job, and settled into another apartment with her son. Everyday, she works hard at being a good mother to Sam. She knows she hasn't always made the best decisions, but at 30, June is convinced she can get her life back on the right track. She has managed to maintain her composure as much as she could throughout everything and though the years have changed her, she is still the southern girl that can't help but be shy around strangers, but doesn't hesitate to speak her mind if she needs to. At age 4, Sam recently finished a pre-K program at the same elementary school in which June teaches. She enjoys being close to her son, and she doesn't even mind being close to her ex-husband because it makes Sam happy. Her life is running smoothly, and as long as she can dodge the constant and daily phone calls from her mother, she's generally happy and content with taking what life gives her.