00:00My earliest memories were actually being at my grandparents' house.
00:03One night, I remember that I didn't get to go back with my mom.
00:08My grandparents took me from my mother.
00:10My dad is just a name on a birth certificate.
00:14Eventually, when I was almost four or five, I went to stay with one of my aunts.
00:19She was married.
00:20They were given legal guardianship with me, and I would say that life was good.
00:24And my aunt instilled in me manners, respect for others.
00:29When I was a bit older, my aunt had gotten divorced.
00:32I started to pick up on some of the things that my aunt would say about me or about my
00:37mom.
00:38It kind of started making me feel like I was a burden to her.
00:41I started acting out, and my aunt dropped me off at my mom's doorstep
00:47because she found out that I had stolen a pack of her cigarettes.
00:52I wasn't even kidding them.
00:53I was trying to impress the girl down the street.
00:56She was like 16, but my aunt made me pack a backpack full of clothes.
01:00She drove me to my mom's house.
01:02She told me to my face that she wanted me to know what it felt like to be poor,
01:07that she wanted to teach me a lesson,
01:10and that maybe then I would be grateful for everything she's done for me.
01:14I was only 11.
01:15I went from eating three meals a day to wondering if I was going to eat it all.
01:20Inside this new home, a mom and new stepdad, they were both doing.
01:26They were extremely violent with each other.
01:28Inside this new home, I got to start working with each other.
01:28I had to work with each other.
Comments