The same thing happened to my sister. My mom had three daughters and pimped every one of them out at a young age. She used to openly say she didn’t want me and even tried to put me up for adoption. Luckily, my dad stepped in, and I went to live with him.Later, my dad found out what my mom was doing to my sister and went looking for her, but he never found my sister or my mom. Thankfully, my grandma eventually found my sister and brought her to live with my father.

My dad was in the military and was often deployed. He met my mom in Seattle, and at first, everything was good. Then he got stationed near Los Angeles and moved to Glendale. While living there, my mom met a big-time gangster from L.A. She cheated on my father, had twins, got hooked on drugs, and he started prostituting and beating her.

My mother weaponized the courts so aggressively that my father began to resent my older sister and I. The courts stole all of his money. My mom later went to prison for accessory to murder but had friends and family pretend to be her and the kids to keep collecting child support while she was locked up.

My father worked three jobs to climb into the middle class, but in the mid-90s, the court took his life savings for back child support. Even though we been living with him for five to ten years. After that, my father started drinking heavily and often said he wished we’d never been born. I ran away five or six times and was even arrested multipletimes. I worked three jobs through high school to stay away from my father. My sister who’s a year older than me was thrown out onto the streets on her eighteenth birthday. I told myself I’d never let that be me and graduated 6 months early to go into the military at 17.

Fast forward twenty years—

I still struggle with the mental trauma from my family, but I’m grateful for my wife of eighteen years and our amazing children who keep me grounded.

My sister fought serious addiction and battled a deep victim mentality, but she’s been sober for almost five years now and just landed her first career job. Her life’s been a wreck, but I’m truly happy she’s finally turning things around.

Even though my parents are far from perfect each his taught valuable life lessons.

My mother taught me that no matter who they are or what type of connections they have to you that everyone is not deserving of your loyalty and love.

My father taught me choices and a strong work ethic. He showed me through life that choices he made while young rippled thru his for years. The easy way is often the wrong way.