My sister and I were having a great time trying on our new roller skates when I decided to go inside to get a drink. I opened the door to see Doug sitting on the couch. HE had a sad gloomy look on his face like something was wrong. Well something was wrong. He had told me to come sit down so he could talk. As I sat down the only words that I heard was “I’m kicking you out”. Everything in my mind was blocked out. He said we were to rough and my mom had no say whatsoever in the matter. At this time a tear fell down my face as my sister walked in to see what was taking me so long. She had seen that I was crying so she asked me why. I had told her that we were moving and that it would only be her and I. Tyler walked in and saw us both crying and he started crying. As Doug went to get back into his little Facebook world on the computer we all just sat their for the remainder of the night and just cried.

I remember the day like it was yesterday. I’m so glad I knew them. They were my babysitters parents. It was a family of 15. 13 kids total and the 2 parents. They were fun for the most part. Except for when we go disciplined. I remember my first whoopin. It was a mix of screaming and crying in the whole house because when 1 person did it, we all did. Their was a lot of kids to play with so the summer was great. I was only their for the summer and a little of the fall. They weren't strict as it came to skirts around the house but that story will come later. I remember that me and my sister would fight over one of the girls Sunshine because she was the only girl that was our age. And of course we didn't want to play with the boys. One day we were called into their bedroom just for my sister and I. As we were on our way down the hall not only was i nervous but i was excited to see what the big conversation was. As we walk in they have the same look on their face as Doug did the day he told us he was kicking us out. That's when they said we found another home for us. They said there were two sisters that would love to take care of us and that we would visit them a couple of times then move in . So not knowing that the next 3 years of my life would be hell, we moved in around my birthday.

They were very nice and they didn’t have any kids but they had a big family. After a couple weeks my birthday came along and they brought me and my sister to Kalamazoo to go to Olive Garden. I think it was the ending of the honeymoon phase. So there was one big problem I had with them. When we first moved in they took all of our pants away. Even our pajamas. The only types of pants I could wear was the snow pants in the winter. Also I couldn’t wear jewelry, makeup, or cut my hair. My life was at my lowest. And no matter how hard I tried, there was nothing I could do. People at school were so mean to me. No matter how much I hid from people, they would always find me. Whether it was yanking down my skirt in gym to dumping water on me in the bathroom stall. My main bully got what she deserved is all I can say.

Around the second semester of my 8th grade year a man came to our house and was talking about adoption. I had said that I wanted to go and not stay but little did I know I was going to be in foster care. Around 2 weeks after he came all I remember was driving downtown with all my clothes and belongings and meeting a woman and a man that had a tiny little car. They put our stuff in the tiny car and the 2 sisters were crying. I didn't know what was happening at the time and I still don't know why they left me out in the world like that. We pulled up to this shady house in the hood. It was blue and big but was small in the inside. When we pulled into the driveway a fat black lady came out in pajamas even though it was 3:00 in the afternoon and said “just bring the s*** inside.” At this moment i knew my life would be different from what it had been.

We got kicked out right after school and were moved to a new home in Athens. This home was my favorite at one point of my life. I was going to get adopted. Thing were going great then around Christmas she put a 14 day notice without us knowing. So a week before christmas we were moved out. It was a thursday. I learned that the little girl that got adopted while we were in their care told them I said I was going to kill her. Obviously I wouldn't do that and they later found out that she was lying after we left, because the girl told them she lied.

My sister and I were split up and I stayed in a different home in Athens but my sister went back to Battle Creek. The home I was in was so disturbing and nasty that I said if they didn’t move me i would walk (run) away. They finally moved me back with my sister. I wasn’t at my best and i  ran away for 3 days on New Year's Eve thinking it would help everything. But it didn’t. After all that mess I was moved and then got put where I  am now the best home in the world.

There is way more to my whole story I just summed it up. I couldn't really tell you all about my life because it would be more of a book than a memoir but here is most of my life in 7 paragraphs. My life has probably been less worse than yours but still i went through hell to get where I am now.