“I’ve been on my own since the age of twelve. My mom decided...

“I’ve been on my own since the age of twelve. My mom decided that her drug-dealing boyfriend was more important than me. One night I came home from playing and the key wouldn’t turn. I started banging on the door but nobody answered. I lived with friends for the next few years. I went from house to house, couch to couch. My friend’s mom was a bartender so she got me a job washing dishes. I saved enough money to get a car when I turned sixteen, and I drove out to Arizona. I was pregnant by the time I was twenty-one. My son changed my life. I didn’t turn into Mother Theresa overnight. I had to unlearn everything I’d ever known. I had to learn how to do things the right way, not sell drugs, not cut corners. Right now I’m trying to finish college while being a single mother. I’m taking care of my eighty-three year old grandmother. I just beat cancer for the second time in four years. But things seem to be quiet now. I’m always holding my breath, though. The story of my life has been the calm before the storm.”