Even though we lived in the projects and even though it was just the two of us, my mom had to work constantly just to feed us.

There was rent, bills, food, medical and credit card debt.

She had a whole host of financial responsibilities that seemed to overshadow bonding time with her daughter,

which, even as a a kid I understood. I learned at a very young age that

the world revolves around money and without money you're going to end up on the

worst end of things. That's how we ended up

homeless and living with my aunt before we settled into pinnacle homes and that's what

she was trying to keep from happening ever again.

Child care wasn't really an option.

It was too rich for our blood and it was assumed I would be able to take care of myself by the age of eight.

Maybe this is an anomaly for poor neighborhoods, but my routine was to be my own parent.

I'd wake up, grab my Lanyard with a key, put myself on the bus, take myself off the bus, do

homework, fix dinner, clean a little and go to bed.

If mom worked a double, which she often did between the two jobs, it had seemed like days before I'd see her.

The only real parental structure I had was a list of rules on yellow legal paper that mom would stick to the fridge every

morning before she bolted off to her first job. Typically the rules would stay the same

unless I mess something up that mom needed to address like not

cleaning the kitchen after I cooked. But sometimes she'd make a new list with goofy

little things written on them to try and make my day a little brighter.

Nestle between, don't stay out past seven and no long distance calls would be something

dumb like, don't put coins in your ears or don't let fish swim backwards on Sundays.

Most of them were pulled from dumb American laws she'd read about in one of her

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