Family is everything.

My dad didn't get a chance to consider it.

He died before I was even in the picture.

As far as I knew, all I ever had was my little brother Keldin and my mom Atari.

Although you best believe if we ever called her anything besides mom or mom, she would

chew our ear off.

We were lying on each other for strength, especially hers after grandma died.

Growing up in the streets of South LA, we didn't have much other choice.

She would wake us up every morning and get us dressed for school.

Mom was our bus driver in the mornings, taking Keldin to the elementary school and me

to middle school.

Her wages couldn't afford us the best clothes, so the moment we stepped off the bus,

best believed that we were struggling.

My shoes were barely hanging on my feet, and I hadn't had a good shower in a few days,

but mom kept reinforcing what mattered most was getting our education.

She worked herself to the bone for us.

I didn't know what at the time, but after she got done with the bus route, she bused tables

at a diner and just down the street from our school.

The only way I found out was because one day I played hooky, stopped in there for a bite

to eat.

When mom saw me, I had probably been crying for a good 20 minutes.

One girl wrote a nasty note and stuck it on my locker and I just wanted to hide from

...