I live a life that has nothing extraordinary in it. I was born to two parents that were just out of highschool and liked to party. They loved eachother very much in a mad passionate and mostly crazy way. My earliest memories are of always being surrounded by my family watching the grown ups eat, drink (a lot) and get high. People think I'm joking when I tell them I used to sit in the circle and pass the joint.

I grew into an outspoken and relatively undisciplined child which my family set out to correct immediately. The problem was I was already firmly who I was and they were unable to change me, so they settled for various forms of emotional, mental, and verbal abuse. I learned not to cry and to let the shit roll off.

I became a loud and independant kid. I was smart. My teachers liked me because I always participated and I was comfortable with adults. I feared nothing. The house of pain had taught me how to survive in a world with people with more power than you. I was used to being mistreated which made me even harder to control. Then my uncle got his hands on me and everything went crazy. I became for the first time (there were many that folllowed) public enemy number one. I was abandoned by the family that had raised me, and called a liar. But I stood up. I showed them what I was made of.

I got pregnant at 17 which the statisitics could have predicted, but took my teachers iby suprise. Initially they thought was a tradegy but ended up being the best thing in my life. In order to give her a safe life I had to become who I am today. She was always first in my life, and in her I got to see innocence and love and beauty. For her I became me. I am not perfect, the lessons of youth don't always leave you without a fight. When I get mad I am mean, and I am a fighter. I fight everything. But I am a good mom. She is the best thing I ever did, and possibly the only thing I 've done right.

So who am I now? I am a single mother of a teenager daughter that would make anyone proud. I am a great and compassionate friend. I am a straight shooter and a fighter. I am a christian, and God has healed me of my wounds. I like who I am, and I wouldn't change it because without the bad, I would have never be who I am. I am blessed.