My Canadian born father came to the United States at age 21 as a jack of all trades - mason, welder, pipe-fitter, and carpenter. He was very intelligent, but he wasn't at home much. And when he was at home he was exhausted from the kind of work he did.
My mother was born somewhere back East. I didn't realize there was something wrong with her until I was about 11 years old. Once, we were in a restaurant and she found a piece of lint in her coffee. She swore that someone put LSD in her coffee and made a scene. She really relieved that my dad was "out to get her." She used to tell us that my dad wanted all of us aborted (which I later found out wasn't true).
When I was older I understood better what schizophrenia is. The last time I saw Mom she was reading the Bible and ranting about how she was going to get rich writing her own Bible. Needless to say, my brothers and sisters and I weren't supervised much. My older brothers were pretty wild. I remember the time one of them got hit in the head with a sledge hammer by a drunk guy. It's amazing he survived.
One night in the trailer park where we lived, my mother wandered off and my dad wasn't at home. My older brothers went out and left me and my little brother. I guess we were kind of loud because a neighbor called the police. When they found us alone, they called CPS and we eventaully ended up in the foster care system.
Later my dad found a place by himself and had my younger brother and I move back in with him. Things were getting better, but then he had a massive heart attack and died. I was 15 and my brother was 12. My brother tried to kill himself by taking prescription medicine but thankfully he survived. We went to live in a foster home in the country. We had good foster parents who went to a Pentecostal Church.
During this time I had a biology teacher at my high school who pushed me to enroll at the Louisville Technical Institute. She even helped me fill out all the forms. This last summer I graduated with a 3.2 grade-point average and a 2-year degree in Computer Graphic Design. I even made the Dean's List one semester!
Right now I'm living in the Boys' Haven Independent Living Program, working at Wal-Mart, and beginning to look for a job in graphic design. My brother is in the program too, finishing high school. Boys' Haven has a great program for kids and young adults with no place to go.
I'm proud to say that I'm the first person in my family to get a college degree. One thing that's helped me in life is that I'm kind of shy so I don't hang out with the wild kids. And I haven't let my family influence how I act. I can't rely on my family for role models, but I still love them.
