12-5-03Mrs. else to take care of me, I

12-5-03Mrs. else to take care of me, I

12-5-03Mrs.

McCroryPd.7Life was no picnic for me. I grew up in one of the roughest n toughestneighborhoods around. Living in a one bedroom apart, I was subjected toviolence throughout my life. My Pops was an abusive person. He was alwayseither drunk or high, and he was drug dealer. To top that off, he wasabusive towards my Mama and I.

He would come home drunk and delusional andbeat us for the fun of it… it was a scary thing.We were very poor.

.. and couldn’t afford the many things that thenormal people enjoyed in life. Imagine having no presents under theChristmas tree (most years we didn’t even have a tree)..

. imagine eatingone little meal a day, or sometimes going hungry for a couple of days..

.imagine wearing hand me down clothes that were either way to big or way tosmall for my size… and imagine wearing shoes a size or two smaller thenyour size, with holes and rips in the sole.

When I was only 11, I made the mistake of joining one of the mostnotorious gangs in my neighborhood. When I first joined, I felt like I waspart of a family, and I felt safe. Then as time went on, I realized thatthey were using me. They wanted to me to rob people and get money in anyway shape or form to give to them. That was no family…

and I was in thedanger zone.-2-When I was 13, the only thing in life I truly loved was torn out of mylife. My Mama was brutally beaten and killed by my Pops. I became suicidaland suffered depression.

My Pops got put into jail, and since there was noone else to take care of me, I was put into a foster home.Up to the time I was 18, I was always moving from one home to another.It was hard when I would finally make a friend, because I knew that after acouple of months I would never see that person again in my life. So for along time I just stayed to myself so I wouldn’t have to go through the painof losing yet another person in my life.I was on my own after I was 18.

I worked really hard to stay incollege; which was truly a struggle because I paid for it all on my own. Iwould go to school in the early day, then later on I would go to work, andfor the most part I worked overtime to get more money. A lot of nights Iwould only get 4 hours of sleep because I would be up doing homework. Iknew it would all work out in the end.While in college I met a man whom I thought I could trust. I “thought”I was in love, but love is blind.

Early in the relationship I didn’trealize that I was following the same path as my mother in a way. We gotmarried, then a little bit into our marriage things drastically changed.The man I met was determined and goal driven. He was respectful and loving.

That’s what made me fall in love and marry so quickly. He started to becomevery lazy, and expected me to do everything for him. I was the only onebringing money into the picture, he would just sit around and get high anddrink. I started to see my pops in him. When I found out that I waspregnant, I was scared for my unborn child and myself. I made the decisionto move into a friend’s house, which was a smart move.

I later found outthat the man that I married was cheating on me. We divorced and I made surethat I never saw him again.I was jobless for a couple of months until this wonderful opportunitycame across my way.

A prestigious law firm in New York City was looking forlaw students to come to New York City to get trained, then would be offereda guaranteed a job in the law firm.I hopped on the train the first minute I heard about this offer… mylife has turned for the best. I graduated law school and I have my preciousson. I re-married a wonderful man who has his life straight (he’s adoctor), he loves my son as if he was his own.

I’m a lawyer now, helping people who need to be helped. The job can betough… but what can be as tough as my life? Everything in life happensfor a reason. I went from a depressed street kid to a successful lawyer.

Everything that happened in my life has made me so very grateful for what Ihave now, and I don’t take anything for granted.