Free A Short Walk Home by David Cry Page A

up poor, and grew up tough as a result. Her father and his lifestyle had a profound influence on Jaymee; during their entire life together, he never had a job. Instead, he had decided that being a missionary for the Jehovah’s Witnesses was his best option. It allowed him to interact with people, proselytizing and preaching what he deemed to be the truth. As far as earning money and providing stability went, he simply was not interested in it. Unbeknownst to him or anyone else, his ALD was already affecting his mind, and while there was nothing he could do about it, it still dramatically affected his ability to be a caregiver for Jaymee and her sister. Their lives would have been so much different had a diagnosis only been made.
    What’s more, her father’s actions had brought them into a world of fairly conservative religious sentiment. They did not celebrate birthdays or Christmas, and they were forbidden from saying the Pledge of Allegiance. The thinking was that it constitutedmaking an oath to something other than their God, which was forbidden. Jaymee and her sister were often forced to accompany their father whenever he went out, spreading the word. They would knock on doors and give out pamphlets, letting people know about a religion they themselves did not fully understand.
    One Saturday, while they were out doing this missionary work, they rang the doorbell of a girl Jaymee knew from school. In that moment, Jaymee became incredibly self-conscious of what her father was doing. For the first time, she realized that her father’s opinion of the truth was not one she shared. She was only 9.
    Without her father knowing, Jaymee began leading a double life. From that day forward, she recited the pledge at school. While this was against her father’s beliefs, Jaymee no longer cared. In her mind, she needed to do what she felt was right, no matter how difficult it was. Even at that young age, my wife had come to realize that her moral compass did not point in the same direction as her father’s. While she still respected him greatly, and went to many lengths to spare him her true feelings, she had to live her own life, according to her own values. All the same, she knew that this would have disappointed her dad, which is not something she ever wanted.
    As Jaymee got older, her life became even more complicated. When she was 16, she and her father had a falling out and it was decided that Jaymee would go to live with her mother. Unfortunately, her father didn’t take the two minutes needed to call Jaymee’s mother to sound her out; if he had, he’d have known her current state, financially, emotionally, and mentally. According to Jaymee, her mom was a self-serving person who cared little about others, least of all her two daughters. Moving in with her mom meant being introduced to drugs and a ridiculous lifestyle that included food rarely being in the pantry or refrigerator. In lieu offood, Jaymee’s mother often offered her drugs, which still baffles me. It’s as though she were saying, “Here, honey: Ruin your life just as I have mine.”
    While a senior in high school, Jaymee started working so as to afford rent. Once out on her own, she continued to attend school and did her best; she had no other choice. She even stepped up and offered shelter to her little sister, so as to eliminate their mother’s influence in their lives. That had to take guts, not to mention a strength and determination that is frankly foreign to me. Deep down inside, I will always be a suburban kid. The thought of a drug-addicted parent is so alien to my own sheltered, tucked-away experience that I can’t begin to appreciate my wife’s struggle. I never dreamed I would marry a woman who has been through so much; she really is the most amazing human being I’ve ever met.
    ALD entered Jaymee’s life when she was only a teenager. She had been forewarned about the illness by her Aunt Pat:
    ‘Jaymee, your dad has an illness called ALD;