Peg Meerkatz

I was born in Bklyn NY & raised as the only child of Virginia & Robert Casey. I always knew that I was adopted. When I was 18 my mom told me that her sister was my bio mom, bio dad passed away before I was born. Almost overnight I went from being an only child to being the middle child of 7, 9 if you count 2 boys bio mom gave up for adoption before she met my dad. For reasons I still do not fully understand I was not permitted to tell anyone that I knew my true parentage; I kept this secret for almost 8 years it almost destroyed me. I never had a very good relationship with adopted father & as soon as I could I changed my surname to bio dad’s. Siblings never accepted me & some were in fact were quite cruel after learning we WERE NOT cousins. Bio mom never had a good relationship & learning she gave birth to me DID NOT change that. I long for that sense of family & often seek it from friends though this sometimes backfires. After High School I kind of drifted, I was trying to find my niche, a place where I belonged. I never felt that I fit in. I wasn’t as mature socially as my peers, I had different interests in music, style of dress, my differences became more evident as I got older and I really felt like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Then 8 years after graduating from HS I developed Multiple Sclerosis. Hellloooo I DID NOT ORDER THIS! Like it not I had to grow up & come up with a viable life plan; drifting from job to job was not an option and with increasing limitations it was questionable how long I could continue in retail sales. I was never a good student in school. I was smart that no one doubted but academically I struggled. I was labeled “lazy”, “incorrigible”, I was accused of not trying when in fact I could not have tried any harder. I was promoted from grade to grade never mastering more than the most basic skills. People were skeptical when after finding out I had MS that I wanted to go to college. Why? How? Well I DID NOT pass the entrance exam to a community college but someone had a light bulb moment and asked “Were you ever tested for learning disabilities?” Learning disabilities were not the “in” thing when I was in school, the labels kids like me were given were “lazy” & “underachiever”. It was a surprise & relief when tests found I had significant learning disabilities. I entered college & received remediation for my learning disabilitie