Harlow was found on the steps of the Druid Hills Baptist Church in Druid Hills, Georgia, by Hannah Graves in 1975, and adopted by Hannah and her husband, Reverend George Graves. The Graves already had five children at the time, but believed it was a sign from The Lord that they take the infant into their family since she was left on the steps of their church. By the time Harlow was two it was apparent that she had an interest in the piano she would often sit with Hannah when she would practice hymns for the Sunday services, trying to copy everything Hannah would do with her chubby fingers. At four she was playing songs she would make up on her own, and at five she was reading music. Soon, seven year old Harlow was the one accompanying the hymns Sunday mornings at Druid Hills Baptist Church. The Reverend and his wife believed this gift was why Harlow had been given to them, and as such they doted on her. Although they loved all their children and encouraged and supported them in all their interests, the attention Harlow received almost immediately came between she and her siblings. They weren’t outright mean to her (most of the time), they were just...indifferent. At first Harlow didn’t care if they didn’t want to play with her or wouldn’t invite her to go ride bikes or to the pool or park she didn’t care about those things anyway. And besides, God had given her this gift, and their jealousy was a sin - it basically said so in Proverbs 14:30, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”
But as time passed, Harlow began to long for the companionship of her sisters and brother, and as she grew so did that longing - as did their resentment. It all came to a head when she was 16. Her 18 year old sister, Mardette, was pitching in a softball game that a college recruiter would be attending, while the same afternoon Harlow had a recital that representatives from Julliard would be at. Hannah assured them that they could - and would - go to both. But Mardette watched and waited and her parents never came - and she pitched like shit. When she got home, it was to the family celebrating Harlow’s recital and an offer from Julliard. Deeply hurt by this, Mardette directed her anger at Harlow, telling her that she wished their mother had never found her, and that whoever had dumped her on the church steps had probably hated her as much as she did.
Heartbroken, Harlow tried to take her life that very night. Hannah found her in the bathtub with both of her wrists cut open. She was rushed to the hospital and survived the attempt, but was never the same after. Her interest in the piano disappeared, replaced by a rebelliousness that got her a very different kind of attention from her parents. It started with skipping school (and church) and sneaking out late at night to go to parties. Her grades suffered heavily - there would be no Julliard in her future, no college period. She began drinking and smoking pot. It all escalated when seventeen year old Harlow got arrested after going for a joyride in a stolen car with an older boy. After a heated fight with her parents, Harlow stormed out of the house with nothing but the clothes on her back - and she never went back.
She wound up in New Orleans, where she got a job washing dishes at a bar in the French Quarter. It was here that she met Christophe, a jazz musician 4 years older than she was. On their first date he took her skydiving, and Harlow fell in love, not just with Christophe, but with the adrenaline high jumping out of a plane gave her. Harlow would spend the next 10 years with Christophe, traveling the world, living by Christophe’s motto, which he borrowed from Helen Keller, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.” If it was fast, reckless, dangerous, and sometimes stupid, Harlow and Christophe did it.
In May of 2002 the pair settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, and by the end of the month their relationship was suddenly over. Harlow thought she would die when Christophe uttered those four little words to her, “I met someone else,” - after all, for ten years he had been her life - but she hadn’t. A few weeks later though, Christophe, his new woman, and the vast majority of the world did die, from Captain Trips.
Afterward, Harlow considered trying to go back to Druid Hills, to see if her family was gone. But then the dreams began. The old woman reminded Harlow of her Nana, who she had been close to when she was little, and part of her wanted to go to Nebraska like she invited her to do. The Walkin’ Dude though...there was an air of danger about him, and she was already in Vegas, so, why not stay and see what it was all about?
In Vegas, she met Mason Wyatt and the two were married August 12th, 2002.
