My Life - Personal History

         (Me, age 4 months)

I was born September 19^th, 1990 to Gregory Paul Isham & Diana Marble Isham in the Auburn, Washington hospital. At that time I was given the name Shelley (after my grandmother’s maiden name) Marie Isham and then whisped away by a nurse to get cleaned. My mother told me that in that instant she didn’t want me to be taken and she was worried that they wouldn’t handle me the way she wanted them to. When I was washed and cleaned to took me back to my mother, but my skin was dry and red. My mom told me she never wanted to let the nurses give her baby a bath again! I was taken home to my new family of 5 siblings. I already dad 2 sisters (Jennifer-4 and Sarah-7) and 3 brothers (Gordon-9, Michael-5 and Nathaniel-2). I stayed in the hospital for only a day and then my family took me to our home in Puyallup, Washington. My mom had never given birth to a baby in the hospital before me and she wasn’t use to the hospital environment, she didn’t much like it and left as early as she could.                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Infant/toddler years – When I was an infant I was often described as having very big eyes and a bald head, at least up until I was around 2 years old. I lived with my family in Puyallup for about 3-4 years before we moved to my grandparent’s house in Brigham City, Utah.  When I was about 4 months old my parents dressed me up in a pink knit outfit and gave me a pink teddy bear to take pictures. I still have those pictures and the teddy bear. During our stay in Puyallup (when I was 2-3 years old) my family would take walks together to pick blackberries along the railroad tracks next to our home and hunt for and find 4 leaf clovers everywhere! We often visited the parks in Washington and enjoyed a number of hikes for family outings. I don’t really remember this time in my life but my mom told me of a lot of the experiences. On March 27^th, 1992 my brother Matthew was born and I loved him very much.

 (This is my brothers Matthew, Nathaniel and I, all stuffed into one cupboard.)

Childhood years – I don’t remember much from my childhood either but there are a few highlights I can recall. I was about 4 years old when my family resided in Brigham City for a year. During this time, my brother Jeffry was born (May 6, 1994). My growing family then moved to Troy, Virginia where we only stayed for another year before moving to Independence Missouri. My brother Aaron was born in Independence February 24^th, 1996. I was 6 years of age by this time and vaguely remembering my baby brother being chubby cheeked and having a full head of thick, black hair. While staying in Independence, we lived in a big red and white brick house. I remember there being a large path-walkway that went over the living room area and led into my sister Sarah’s bedroom. I admired this house with as much adoration a little 6 year old could muster. My brothers and sisters and I would often play out in the backyard and make mud pies and other messes late into the night until it was time for us to get to bed so we could prepare for school in the morning. I also was 6 years old when I started kindergarten in Mrs. Snow’s class. She was on older, sweet lady, with snowy white hair just like her name, whom I quite liked, especially when she sat down to read us stories.

(My 6th birthday with (from left to right) my sister Sarah, My Mom and my sister's friend.)

We only lived in Independence for about a year when we moved to Ashland, Wisconsin. We lived in a smaller, white house in Ashland. This house was also beautiful to me; it had lovely paintings all over the walls from a previous owner. I shared a room with my sister Jennifer while we lived here. A long, dirt road led up to the house and on the side of the road was a pond with all sorts of frogs, lizards, bugs and other animals nearby. This house was surrounded by an enormous amount of land. Although we didn’t own the land around us, I often explored the forest brush nearby. I loved to climb the trees and considered myself an expert tree climber. In the woods behind our house we had pretty flowers and sometimes if I got lucky, I would find yummy blueberries, blackberries and raspberries to eat. One time, while I sat in the house watching a movie, I noticed a black shadow creep over my legs. I looked over to our arcadia glass doors and saw a big black bear up on hind feet with his paws against the doors looking in. I remember in that moment I was horrified and scared stiff. My brother started walking into the living room and I told him not to move. Just then I heard my mother’s van pull into the driveway and the bear was gone. I ran out to tell her to hurry and get inside just in case the bear was still lurking. Later that day we saw a couple of cubs walk into the forest. We often saw wildlife throughout our stay in Ashland. I remember seeing a mother doe and her two fawns walk right next to our glass doors once.

I caught an assortment of frogs and snakes and even mice while living in this house. One time I found a bundle of grass in the lawn. There were little pink splotches in the grass. I looked closer to see that they were baby mice! I was so proud of what I had found that I put them in a bucket to try and raise them as my own. Sadly, when I accidentally left them outside while it rained, the little mice died. I cried after this experience and buried them next to our pond down the road. I think the mice experience taught me a little bit about responsibility. I loved playing on, around and near our little pond, except for avoided going into the water because there were leeches. Yuck! I remember that my older brothers and sisters always wanted to sail across the small pond but were too heavy for the little plastic turtle shell that was used as a boat so I was always picked to take the challenge. I was little enough and smart enough. It was fun whirling around on the top of that water but I would always end up getting wet on the way back to shore while trying to get out.

During the winter months of our stay in the Ashland house it was freezing cold. The pond froze over and so did the tips of my fingers when I played outside. I remember one time when my bother Nathaniel, whom I called Nano, and I were getting ready to go to school. He was 9 and I was 7. Before we took the long trek down our dirt road to the bus stop he pulled out a sled, laid me down in it and bundled me up in my coat to keep me warm. I specifically remember him taking the reins of that little sled and pulling me the entire way out to the bus stop. I felt like it was a long way! This is a time when I realized one of my older brother’s generosity and the love that he had for me.  The summer later, I learned how to ride a bike for the first time (at the age of 7). My oldest brother Gordon taught me how to do this by sitting me on the new bike I had gotten for my birthday and holding on to me while pushing down the road. The first couple of times I fell down, but the last time I lifted up my feet and soared. Once I knew how to master the bike, I took it on adventures wherever my little legs could carry me.

During that same summer my family found a black and white puppy on the side of the road. His owners had abandoned him so we took him in. I remember calling him Oreo, because he was black with white paws, just like an oreo cookie is black and white. Oreo proved to be quite the handful. He would pee in the garage when we kept him in from the rain, and if we let him outside he undoubtedly would dig up my mother’s rose bushes. Oreo would get too excited. One time my younger brother Matthew and I came home from school and he ran up and jumped on Matthew (who was 5). Matthew just wanted to pet him but he knocked Matthew over and got too rough, eventually giving him several scratches. We had to get rid of Oreo after this, and we ended up taking him to the nearby animal shelter.  Near the end of our stay in Ashland, my brother John Wesley was born, March 30^th, 1998.