Struggle, Learn, Succeed

By Katie Munro

Table of Contents

Quote…………………………………………………………..…3 Family Tree……………………….……………….……….……..4 Breakdown Family Tree (Munro)…………………..……….…..5 Breakdown Family Tree (Healy)…………………..…..……..…6 Chapter 1: Aggie Pride………………………………..……..….7 Chapter 2: LA Lifestyle…………………………….……..….….9 Chapter 3: Bad Blood………………………………….…….…10 Chapter 4: The Other Side of the Tracks……..….………….…11 Chapter 5: “In All the World There’s Only One”.………….…12 Anecdote: Mommy Down…………………….………….……14 Works Cited……………………………………………………..16

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–Debbie Healy Munro

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”

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Munro-Healy Family Tree

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Family Tree Breakdown

(Munro Side)

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Family Tree Breakdown (Healy Side)

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Chapter 1: Aggie Pride

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With trembling hands and a hopeful heart, Debbie shaved open the nine by twelve envelope, clenched the

top sheet of paper, and gradually slid it out. Hidden within the perfectly formatted first paragraph were the

liberating words, “You have been accepted!”.

Immersed in emotion, Debbie shot out to tell her parents of her major accomplishment. She discovered her

father stuck in his fixed position on the couch with one hand extended out levelly to balance his glass cup. Debbie

anxiously spoke and grew weary as her father remained stock-still and showed no emotion. Helen, her mother,

scolded him as if he were a toddler, incapable of understanding. With frigid, whiskey soaked lips, Norman replied,

“I’m not paying for it.” And that was all he said.

That night, and in the weeks to follow, her waterlogged eyes leaked endlessly and she began to doubt herself

more than ever before. Norman’s inability to be proud of his daughter and express his love, stimulated her self-

esteem issues. While these sentiments had existed throughout her childhood, Debbie always thought the day she

proved she was on the path to success would be the day he accepted her. When his actions did not oblige with her

plan, it crushed her harder than ever before. However, Debbie did not let her insecurities hold her back. She

continued to work weekend lunches and her four hour dinner shift everyday after school at a local burger joint,

Wimpy’s. Relying on no one but herself, she knew it was up to her to work her way through college in order to have

the future she dreamed of.

In the fall of 1981, Debbie moved herself into the dorms at UC Davis. New students bustled around her and

were followed closely by their anxious parents. Coming from a small island on the outskirts of Walnut Grove, this

fast pace and influx of people was new to Debbie. However, it did not faze her because she knew how to adapt to

new situations on her own, for that was how her life had been since she could remember. As result of her newfound

independence, she became a much stronger and mature young woman. Her endless shifts at Wimpy’s and balancing

act with her schoolwork and extracurriculars fostered a trait that allowed her to make the best of a given situation.

Sutter Island, Walnut Grove, CA

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Chapter 2: The LA Lifestyle On the other side of the spectrum, a family of five settled into 280 Stratford place in Los Altos, California. According to the three children, “struggle” was a word they

were accustomed to. Ken, a seventeen year old Los Altos High Senior tended to roll out of bed twenty minutes later than planned. After totaling his brand new Volkswagen Golf

GTI, he relied on his friend Bryan, better known as “Dog”, to drive him to school every morning. One room over, Junior cheerleader Stephanie typically got up two hours earlier,

spending the latter hour in front of the mirror getting her Farrah Fawcett hair set just right. She strived for flawlessness for her red carpet appearance, which was better known as

her strut into first period. Kristy, the youngest of the three, was found most mornings in the middle of a tantrum, consisting of a wailing fake cry and endless stomping because she

dreaded attending school each morning. Bruce, the children’s father, had many eventful late nights “working” in the city and consistently failed to return home, leaving their

mother, Mims, to fend for herself against Kristy’s ear wrenching performances.

Although Bruce was idolized by all three of his children, he did not hide his favoritism for his little princess. It was clear to all Stephanie was deemed the charmed by the

young age of three. By the time she reached double digits, Stephanie had her father wrapped around her finger- probably tight enough to cut off her circulation. All she had to do

was flash her emerald green eyes, and her father fetched his pen and wrote a check. Today, Stephanie lives in Woodside, CA, and she has yet to fully abandon this lifestyle.

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Chapter 3: Bad Blood “Debs! I’m so sorry you’re going through this. My mom just told me this morning. Why didn’t

you say something?” her best friend CJ uttered as he held her in a tight embrace.

Debbie was bewildered. She thought to herself, what is he talking about? I know I got a C on that

chemistry test, but how would his mom know? That couldn’t be it. I can’t think of anything I’ve kept from

him. Before she could reply, he continued,

“Your poor mother. I don’t know what I would do if my husband was having an affair. Let alone

an affair with my best friend!”

Debbie and her sister Carrie were the last ones to find out. After learning about the affair, Debbie

felt she had no choice but to confront her parents. Seeing as her father was absent as usual, Debbie pelted

her mother with questions and continued her investigation for weeks.

Eventually, Helen presented Norman with a choice, and to this day he admits with 100% certainty

he made the wrong one.

More than once, Debbie got a call from the local bartender asking her to come retrieve her

mother, for Helen was too unstable to find her way home. At least three times a week Debbie would stay

up all night hoping and praying her mother would walk in the door in one piece. Endless sprints to the

front door at 3 AM with the hope that her mother would be standing there became tiring, and the

realization that it was just a creak in the wooden floorboards took a greater toll on Debbie each time. It

took two years of wallowing and disregarding her loved ones before Helen truly came to terms with the

affair and moved towards recovery. While Debbie was thrilled for her mother’s convalesce, those

countless nights of anxiety and distress were forever etched into her brain. Watching her mother writhe in

self-inflicted pain and be alone for so many years instilled a great sense of empathy and compassion in

Debbie.

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Chapter 4: The Other Side of the Tracks “Well, it is just plain irresponsible to have less than fifteen hundred dollars in your bank account,” Stephanie explained to the table. Debbie gulped her twenty dollar glass of

Rombauer Chardonnay, and it took every muscle in her body not to regurgitate it back out all over her full plate of food. She was dumbfounded. As a twenty-two year old college student,

Debbie had only seen her bank account numbers that high in dreams, which according to Stephanie, was reckless. Debbie swears that in that moment she shrunk two inches.

In the dining room of the highly prestigious St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, Debbie was meeting Ken’s sisters, father, and stepmother for the very first time. The room

twinkled as light reflected off the jewelry draped across the surgically taught skin of aristocratic women. Imported chairs encircled dark mahogany tables, which were topped with elegant

settings, easily costing more than Debbie’s rent. Deep voices of esteemed men bellowed off the walls and the disingenuous smiles of women, as fake as their silicone implants, stretched

across faces.

In places like this, Debbie could not have felt more out of her element. Throughout the night she bravely plastered on a smile and concealed her discomfort. Stephanie continued to

rant for the duration of dinner and Ken could sense Debbie’s growing disagreement with the ignorant statements she made.

Debbie developed an extremely worldly perspective from growing up putting herself through college and working dutifully to find success. On the other hand, Stephanie never

developed such an outlook or the ability to empathize with others because her life lacked certain experiences, such as shifts at the local diner. In turn, Stephanie was never prompted her to

update her positions or frame of mind. For this reason, Stephanie could never understand the world Debbie came from.

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Chapter 5: “In All the World There’s Only One” A thin orange glow hovered inches above the evergreen delta water as the sun disappeared off the levee. Two hundred feet above, Ken returned from his kneel to his feet and was

overcome with excitement. Debbie gazed at her shimmering new rock and her radiating smile omitted endless happiness. That summer night, standing on top of the lighthouse on Tinsley

Island, Ken and Debbie planned to meld their two worlds and spend the rest of their lives together.

Tinsley Island, located in the San Joaquin River, is only a thirty minute ski boat ride from Debbie’s childhood home. However, without Ken, she never would have been able to

step foot on this majestic paradise. Tinsley Island is a privately owned by the St. Francis Yacht Club, which Ken’s family has been members of since it formed.

This island means so much more to Ken and Debbie than a place where you can go boating, sailing, and water skiing. To them, it is not just a place to rejoice with friends around

the BBQ or sit out by the pool, roasting yourself to a perfect golden brown under the scorching Stockton sun. To them, lunch trips to the burger joint where Debbie grew up working and

taking a dip off of her friend CJ’s dock were only half the fun. Delta doddling on the water for countless hours was looked forward to every summer, but that is not the reason they love it

so much.

To the two, Tinsley Island is the unification of their two worlds. It is an integration of the beauty of luxury and appeal of simplicity. Being on the delta evokes unforgettable

childhood experiences on both sides. While it physically marks the beginning of their lives together, this island is also the place they dreamed of bringing their kids every summer for the

rest of their lives. Tinsley is loved for its uniqueness, for there is nothing else in the world quite like it. With unexplainable beauty and rarity, Ken and Debbie like to think Tinsley Island

is an emblem of their relationship and the life they have created together.

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Anecdote: Mommy Down

Debbie never failed to put safety first, but that Wednesday morning in July was different. Ken and Debbie reached for their swimsuits and baby girl, and they set out

for a morning water ski. The tulles were motionless and a single cotton ball cloud floated in the bright blue obis. Across the dark, glassy water shot a Glastron ski boat.

They headed to the narrow sloughs of the Sacramento River where Debbie grew up. Their two year old daughter, zipped up in a bold yellow life jacket, plopped

herself down in the passenger seat. Her creamy white skin protruded over the life preserver like a oversized marshmallow oozing out of the graham crackers of a s’more.

With wandering eyes, she limply waved the neon orange safety flag in circles. The warm morning sun blazed down at 75°F and Debbie slipped on her ski and jumped into

the water. At first contact, a bitter shiver rushed through her body, but it soon brought relaxation as she flashed back to her childhood. Water skiing was second nature to

Debbie. Ken sat up in his squishy captain’s chair and the boat’s engine murmured.

“Hit it!” Debbie yelled from the water. Ken thrusted down the throttle and the engine roared. She popped out of the water and leaned into her turns. Debbie cut

through the glassy water with ease and skidded over the wakes. The narrow slough pointed towards a cement bridge, but Ken paid little attention to it, for it did not appear to

be problematic. As they continued their approach, Ken began to fidget in his seat. The closer they got, the lower the bridge appeared. Ken screeched,

“Watch out Debs!”

She immediately squatted on her ski, and Ken lunged for the bold yellow life jacket. Wrapping his body around his baby girl, they ducked behind the windshield. Ken

was wheezing heavily, for the boat barely cleared the bridge by four inches. In his cold sweat, Debbie dropped the rope and a soft little voice whispered, “Mommy down.”

Five tiny, pale fingers gripped the orange flag and hoisted the safety signal into the sky. Ken cranked the wheel and whipped back around to retrieve his floating wife.

Approaching Debbie, Ken chuckled and said,

“I vote we stay in my sloughs from now on.”

Debbie laughed and shook her head. In that moment, the new parents came to the conclusion that having their two year old as the look out, in unfamiliar water, was

not a good parenting move. Although they had an amazing ski, the bridge incident proved too much for Debbie and prompted her to prioritize safety once again. She

admitted adventures were thrilling, but nothing was worth risking her family’s safety.

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"The 10 Best Cars of the 1980's." Oppositelock. KINJA, 26 June 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Always, Tim. Tinsley Island. Digital image. Around Guides. Panoramio, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Healy, Norman T. "Raising Debbie." Telephone interview. 23 Oct. 2014.

Kelly. Los Altos Entrance Sign. Digital image. Wikepedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

Main Dining Room. Digital image. St. Francis Yacht Club. STFYC, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Munro, Deborah H. "Debbie's Childhood." Personal interview. 21 Oct. 2014.

Munro, Kenneth B. "Ken's Childhood." Personal interview. 21 Oct. 2014.

News, Amazon. UC Davis. Digital image. Amazon News, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

"Rombauer Vineyards." NapaVinters. Napa Valley Vinters, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

TILESTONE. Locke Bridge. Digital image. Panoramio. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Works Cited