Charlotte Catherine Bryant
Charlotte Catherine Ouellette was born on March 17th, 1980 to her mother Kathleen Ouellette and William Ouellette Sr. Charlotte was born with a rare eye condition called “Congenital Aniridia” (in layman terms it means she was born with no iris in her eyes). To learn more about Aniridia please Click Here . Since Charlotte eye condition was based down from Charlotte’s father, Charlotte's brother also had the same eye condition.
Charlotte’s life was not an ordinary life, but Charlotte made the best of what she was given. By the time Charlotte was born her father was totally blind because of his eye condition and her mother had trouble walking, because she had Cerebral Palsy. Charlotte’s father was the person who primarily took care of her until she learned to do things for herself. Even with these circumstances Charlotte learned quickly that she loved helping people. At the age of 4 she was helping her father and mother with taking care of the house. Granted she was not great at doing it, but considering her age she put all she could in what she was doing. At the age of 6 her mother told her that she had to help her family more, because her mother mainly had a second child to help to take care of the family not to be a daughter. Her mother told Charlotte don’t consider yourself my daughter, but someone who needs to help this family with everything that needs to get done in this family, because if Charlotte didn’t she was told she would leave her family and be alone. This saddened Charlotte greatly, because Charlotte felt unloved by her mother, but Charlotte’s father tried to comfort her by telling her no matter what God loves you as if you, as if you were his own child. Charlotte’s father told her that if you were not supposed to be on earth, God would have not let your mother have you. By the age of 8 she was pushing her mother in her wheelchair and taking her and her father to appointments. Charlotte had the responsibility of cooking food and cleaning. She didn’t have the time to play, make friends and just be a child. The only time she had those experiences to be free of doing all her duties was when her mother’s best friend Dawna would come to visit. When Dawna came to visit Charlotte could play with Dawna’s son Raymond. Charlotte loved it when Dawna and Raymond would come to her house, because in addition to not doing all the work she didn’t get touched by her father. Charlotte hated those experiences more than anything in her life. In the summer of 1990 Raymond saved Charlotte’s life, when she was stuck in a refrigerator while playing hide and seek with Raymond and her brother. Charlotte was beyond scared while stuck in the refrigerator, she felt like she would never escape and would die inside it. Thankfully Raymond saved her from her demise. Then on Thanksgiving of 1992 Charlotte’s brother told Charlotte that Raymond loved her and wanted to know if she would be his girlfriend. This question made Charlotte smile, because someone liked her for her and would not force her to do things she did not want to do. Unlike her parents whom forced her to do things no child should do on a daily basis. Charlotte was sexually abused by her father to the point she got pregnant by him at the age of 11. Charlotte was selfishly thankful she lost the baby, because she did not want to become a mother at her age. Her mother was no better than her father in this respect though, because she made Charlotte do things for her to men that her mother could not physically do. Charlotte tried telling people, but it seemed like no one wanted to believe her until one day while Dawna was up visiting, that her dad made the bold attempt to do something to Charlotte while Dawna was in the room with Charlotte. Charlotte’s dad thought Dawna was sleeping, but thankfully Dawna was awake but just pretended she was not. Since Charlotte’s father could not see, Charlotte’s father had no clue he would have been caught. When Dawna noticed what Charlotte’s, father was doing she yelled at him and told him to get away from Charlotte. The following day Dawna called the Department of Family and Children services to report what she saw. The Department came and removed Charlotte and her brother from the home and put them in foster care. Charlotte was so scared when this happened because her parents always told her if anyone found out about what was going on Charlotte would regret it and have no more family. On March of 1995 Charlotte found out that Dawna offered to take Charlotte and her brother in, so that way they would not have to be in separate foster homes. Things were amazing once they were living with Dawna and Raymond. Charlotte started to learn what it was like to be a child and not a grown up for the first time in her life. Sadly, the Department of Children and Family services felt it was not appropriate for Charlotte to be living with Dawna and Raymond, so they removed Charlotte and her brother. This happened in mid-October of 1996. This shattered Charlotte to the point she wanted to die. Charlotte felt like she lost everything. Charlotte was placed in a Spanish speaking foster home were the foster mother’s 9-year-old son had to translate everything she was saying. Charlotte was to the point she need help and did not know where to turn. One-day Charlotte finally decided she would just ended it. She went to the Lawrence water fall bridge on Broadway street and was going to jump, but while sitting at the wall of the bridge she realized she was being beyond selfish by wanting to do this. Charlotte realized that if she did this no one would understand why and maybe Raymond would blame himself if he found out. So, Charlotte walked back to her foster home and decided she would go nowhere and do nothing maybe then someone would care to ask her why and help her to get past this deep depression. Finally, Charlotte foster mother called her CASA work and they came and talked to her. Charlotte really liked her CASA worker, because her CASA worker job was to help to advocate for her and her needs. Charlotte explained to them how she felt so isolated and alone, because she went from having family she trusted to a place where no one really spoke to her and she had no clue what they were saying. Charlotte told them how she wanted to go to church and learn more about God, because growing up God was her guide through her life and was more of a father to her than her own father. Charlotte pleaded that she wanted to be Catholic and feel a part of something besides feeling like no one wants her anymore. Charlotte’s CASA worker and her MCB worker helped Charlotte to get connected with a Church and to become Catholic. This was a big blessing for Charlotte, to be a part of church and to hear that God loved all his children. While going to Christ seekers the person was like a guardian angel looking out for Charlotte. Charlotte told her how she was in a purely Spanish speaking foster home and the Department of Children and Family services had no other place to put Charlotte. At that time there were no English-speaking foster homes available. Shortly after that conversation this same amazing lady put an AD in the church bulletin to see if anyone was interested in taking in a visually impaired 16-year-old female. Sadly no one came forward and around Christmas time Charlotte found out that this same amazing lady applied to take Charlotte in as a foster child.
On January 21st, 1997 Charlotte moved in with Mary Alice and her brother Paul. Living with Mary Alice and Paul was amazing. They taught Charlotte that she could be loved by people and that she could grow as a person. They encouraged her to find who she wanted to be and to always keep God in her heart. In April of 1997 Charlotte received her First Communion and Confirmation sacraments. Charlotte truly felt one with God and was ready to move past her past and move forward to her future. Charlotte graduated from North Andover High in 1999. Then went to college and realized services for visually impaired students was very limited and got discouraged and then decided to move to New York to spread her wings and try working and going to school at the same time. Charlotte’s father died on August of 2002. After Charlotte’s father death Charlotte decided she needed to get away from everything that reminded her of her past and have a fresh start. Sadly in 2004 she ended up having a mild heart attack and got the realization being far away from what little family she had was the wrong thing. Charlotte moved back to Massachusetts in December of 2004. In September of 2006 Charlotte lost sight in her left eye, when she was hit in the head with a basketball. On August 21st, 2007 Charlotte gave birth to her son Jayden Robert McKenzie. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 inches long. Jayden had a twin named Cassie whom did not live. Charlotte had no clue she was pregnant with two babies, but the realization she lost Cassie was hard to bear at first. Charlotte eventually moved past this loss, because she felt that at least Cassie can be a little angel watching over Jayden. On March 22nd, 2010 Charlotte gave birth to a second child named Mildred Marie McKenzie. Mildred weighed 9 lbs. 7 oz. and was 21 inches long. After Mildred’s birth Charlotte decided to go back to school and major in Psychology. Charlotte enrolled in the Associates program at Middlesex Community College. While attending school Charlotte was offered an opportunity to do an internship program through the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. On June 7th, 2011 Charlotte was scheduled to take a soft skills training, but little did Charlotte know that on this day she would have the opportunity to reconnect with the person who meant the world to her. While Charlotte was sitting in the lobby of the Massachusetts Commission of the Blind, Charlotte heard a voice that sounded oddly familiar. Charlotte then looked up to see who the person was that she heard come into the lobby. When Charlotte looked up she dropped her MP3 player to the ground and mouth hung open. It was Raymond Bryant 15 years old standing across the room from Charlotte. Charlotte then realized her mouth was wide open and decided might look strange and closed it. Charlotte heart started to race wondering what Raymond could be thinking. All Charlotte knew was she did not want to lose touch with him again. Charlotte was willing to do anything to be anything just, so she could keep him in her life, but she also knew if he did not want anything to do with Charlotte she would do that out of respect for him. At the end of the meeting Charlotte prayed they would leave in the same direction so maybe they could talk. Thankfully Charlotte and Raymond ended up going in the same direction and ironically were living in the same city and did not even realize it. Charlotte expressed to Raymond that she had 2 children and was in a stressful situation at the time, but would love to stay in touch. Charlotte explained to Raymond that she was hoping they could talk about what happened and maybe how each other felt. Raymond agree that would be great and that at minimal they could be friends. This made Charlotte day, that she would know how the one person who she felt completed her soul back in her life, even if they were only just friends. After several months of talking and spending time together Charlotte and Raymond decided that they still loved each other strongly and wanted to be together. On December 10th, 2011 Raymond moved in with Charlotte and their family life began.
After Raymond moved in with Charlotte and her children, Charlotte could tell that her little family was finally complete. Charlotte and Raymond got married on February 14th, 2012. On January 23rd, 2013 Charlotte gave birth to Zoe Anne Bryant. Little Zoe was not so little when she was born, she weighed 10 lbs. and 2oz. and 21 and a half inches long. Charlotte was beyond excited to know she gave Raymond his first child. Charlotte's life is dedicated to loving and helping anyone she can. Charlotte hopes her story helps to see how Charlotte overcame her obsticales with the strength that God loves her and that she can and has do everything to hold her head up high through all her struggles. Over the years Charlotte and Raymond have gone through a lot of ups and downs but the one thing that has stayed consistent for Charlotte is that she could never love anyone as much as she loves Raymond. To learn more about Charlotte and Raymond journey please Click Here .
|
