I was not raised in the “normal” type of home. It was just my mother, our pets, and myself that lived in our house. For most of my life I believed that I never even had a father. I would learn later however that he did exist, and the reasons why I did not learn till then. I actually have three places that I have considered home throughout my life. The house I live in, my grandmothers house, and my great grandmothers house. I spend a couple hours everyday at my grandmothers house because she lives only a block away. Every weekend I used to go to my great grandmothers house which is an hour away, however once I graduated high school I got a job so I am only able to go every other weekend.

My mother has always been there for me, however she is more laid back, and is not one for setting rules. She is very shy and I am afraid that that is where I get my shyness from. I don’t want to follow in her footsteps because she is scared to move on with her life and find someone to complete it. She is also afraid to do the work to get a better job and life. I took college as a way to get myself a better life so I would not follow in her footsteps. She raised me in fear and silence and never taught me the most important things in life. She never taught me many things, she just really looked out for me. I have fear in confiding in her for fear of her reaction, and that also makes me fear other peoples reactions if I tell them certain things. So today, I hide a lot about me from the outside world.

My uncle was always like a father to me. He taught me a lot about life as well. He taught me how church was an important place to be every Sunday, and that reading the bible was a must. The rest of my family is not religious at all. The rest of my family thought that as long as you were good people it did not matter if you believed in god, read the bible or went to church. Every Sunday that I saw my uncle he would try to get me to go to Church, and one thing I regret was not going before he died. Another important thing was sports. He showed me that sports was important to do while in school because it taught discipline and helped in the long run. His son and his daughter were both really into sports and it helped them along the way. He only wanted these things for my life too, to help me out with life. He was only trying to look out for me, teaching me to learn that you should look out for your loved ones.