PART ONE

Where do I come from? I come from struggle and appreciation. A life harder then some, but better then most because no matter what I have always somehow stayed blessed. My memory takes me back to a place i called the mouse house. Self explanatory, that house scared the shit outta me lol I was like idk 3 yrs old, and I can remember going to pee with my legs up for fear that a mouse would run across my feet. No good. Fast forward to after my parents broke up when my newly single mom found a nice place in park slope..my 1st home..that was a place I grew up. St Marks between 4th and 5th was where I spent my elementary school years and was where we had our first house fire.

 

Somehow the back of the stove burst into flames and while my mother attempted to calm the flames, I tried to dial 911 and failed...I was 9 and terrified, sue me...thankfully my brother was in preschool at the time so my mom only had to worry about getting me out of the house..the flames grew closer to the front door and melted the ceiling, I therefore refused to leave that way. We ran to the front of the house and climbed out the window. Our home was completely destroyed and we had to find a place to live again until the apt was renovated...

Then one day the building was sold to new landlords who wanted to transform our apt into something better and that we could not keep because it would be way too expensive. We were bought out. My aunt and uncle offered to let us stay with them, and my mom reluctantly excepted the offer..she had a little bit of money to help with bills while she looked for another job, since she was laid off. So I began junior high in a new temp home in crown heights on rogers ave..things were cool since we got along with these people, but as time went on I noticed alot more arguing between my mom, my aunt and uncle. Example; My aunt would tell my uncle that she didnt give her money for a certain bill when she actually did, which obviously caused problems. Even I started to feel a cold shoulder from my aunt and older cousin.

 

One night they had a arguement so intense, I refused to leave the room and I kept my brother and sister with me. I remember my mother storming in and crying. She said she wanted to leave at least for the night but they threatened to call ACS if she left with us at that time of night...which I still can't understand...by my 8th grade year we left their house and moved in with my grandparents on 17th street.. again Park Slope..it was a two bedroom apt shared by 6 people and a dog. Needless to say we didnt stay long. My mother found a new job and in the meantime we moved into a family shelter in Bed Stuy. I spent the remainder of my JHS year there..

 

By the time I finished JHS we found a place of our own in Ridgewood, Queens...my 2nd home...a few blocks from bushwick, on madison and seneca ave was where I spent my high school years, but the moving wasnt over. Once I graduated my mom wanted to try out Jersey and I didnt want to go so I decided to live with my dad in Bensonhurst, BK.

Somehow both my parents ended up having to move to staten island but I went with my mom to her place because it was closer to my job and my school. The landlord was a straight asshole though. We couldnt prove it but he had someone break in and kept half the apt freezing. So we stopped paying rent and she saved to leave. She found another place but 2 weeks before we were scheduled to move in she got a call and was told the apt was given away..we were homeless... So my father said we could stay with him in the depressing apt he moved into...another tight squeeze..It was by far the most filthy building I had ever entered and was what used to be a store front. It was dark and it seemed to somehow effect my parents relationship for the worse...