Incredible Woman #37 - Tina Richey. Tuesday's Question.

KARA: "Tell us about your trials, and what you've learned from them. What has helped you get through those trying times?"

TINA: "You want to know about my trials? Wow, I could write a book. To save time I won’t go into much detail because I don’t have enough computer memory to store it all, just joking. To shortly name a few trials, I was kidnapped @ 8 years old, abuses of all kinds, losing my mom in a family car accident when I was 17. 7 miscarriages. Divorce after 15 years of marriage, challenging relationships, and friendships, rape, and the list goes on and on. After my divorce 14 1/2 years ago I left the LDS church swearing to never come back. I learned to never say never. Coming back was one of the hardest things to do because in doing so, I lost everything monetary. I had to close down my Massage business of 12 years due to economy issues, left a 10 yr relationship, lost a house and found myself living in a rented room at a friends home. I was humiliated, ashamed, lost and insecure. I wondered what was next. Where do I go, what do I do now? I fell into a depression, feeling pretty unworthy of anything. I have always had Faith that things would work out in my lifetime, since they always had a way of doing so, but this time was different. I felt hopeless. I got re-baptized into the church in Oct of last year, but things kept getting worse. This is where my move to Utah takes place. I have a friend Patti, who found me on Facebook about 1 1/2 yrs ago. We hadn’t seen each other since 1982 when I graduated. We have become the best of friends and she and her husband offered me a place to live to get back on my feet. As you can imagine, I didn’t take the decision lightly, knowing I’d be leaving my kids and Heaven. After a long 6 months of praying and weighing my options I said I’d go. Within that week I had a job lined up doing massage at a Salon in town, (3 weeks before I even moved). At this point I felt blessed and guided for the first time in quite a few months. I’ve been here in Utah for 2 1/2 moths so far. I just feel that I’ve learned that I am not in charge of when blessing come in life. I had to learn it the hard way. I lost everything I worked hard for but it got me here to create a fresh start for myself. Learning to not give up and have Faith is the most important thing. Having a sense of humor also helps to get me through the trials. I think this is a huge way I got through most of my life.

KARA: "You are now a grandma – what is the best thing about being a grandma? Is it easier than being a parent?

TINA: "Like I said before, being called Gram is the best for me. It melts my heart. To hear her call me and say, "Oh Gram, I love you sooo bad and I miss you so bad too", just breaks my heart, but makes my day. Oh course being a grandma is easier than being a mom. I see though why it’s important to be a mom when you’re young cause being 45 and having her all day or all weekend wore me out. Nicki would come home to get her after work and see me all wiped out and she’d say, "Gosh mom, you act like you’ve never been a mom before"... LOL! It’s been 20+ yrs and I’m twice as old. What does she expect? I wouldn’t trade motherhood or gramhood for anything."

Make sure to visit again tomorrow, when Tina will talk about her job as a massage therapist, and what she misses most about her home in California.