Crystal Boo

I have been through a lot of hard times with my family and when I look back through the past fifteen and a half years, there are three very "important" things. This includes my mom, brother and I leaving my dad when I was about four years old, living in a shelter and adopting my older sister Amanda into our family. It's all been hard, but completely worth it in the end.

               My childhood was really hard for me and my family and leaving my dad was really hard for my mom. My parents were both addicted to Methamphetamine and my father was abusive towards my mother. My brother is 3 and a half years younger than me and when he was born, we stayed with my dad. After a really long time, she took me and my brother, and left when I was about four years old I think. I couldn't say why my mom didn't leave my dad before all that time, because it wasn't me in the position. She did tell me she stopped doing drugs and she left my dad because of me and my brother. I don’t really remember too much of us leaving him but I do remember moving into a shelter when we finally got away.

               We went to House of Hope, which is a women and children shelter. They helped my mom get back on her feet, gave us a place to stay, and food. My brother, Mom and I made plenty of new friends, even though my brother was still really young. We stayed there for about five months until we found a small apartment type living space in downtown Denver. We lived there for about a year and then moved into a real house, all to ourselves. The only reason we were able to get this far, was because my mom figured her stuff out and found the shelter to help us out.

               About three or four years living in my house, my mom’s friend Cathy came up to Denver to pick up her daughter, who was sixteen, pregnant, and in juvenile hall. Cathy was an alcoholic, and her daughter, Amanda, did not want to raise a baby in that type of environment. Since my mom respected her choice, she decided to adopt her. Amanda lived with us for a year or so and then moved out and got her own place. She struggled for a little bit but she met the love of her life not that long after and had another baby. They are now married and have four kids. This really impacted me because my other older sister never lived with me and having an older sister was really fun at times. She is one of my main role models now and I love her and her family dearly.

               Of course, I have had so many things impact my life in so many ways, but the main three that make me the young lady I am, are these past three things. My dad, never had a big part in my life so not having a dad, is a huge part of me. Living in the shelter is huge because if my mom hadn’t picked a shelter to go to, we’d probably be living in a tiny apartment, or somewhere really small, and not where we are now. My sister, Amanda is a huge thing because I got an extra family member, which led to six instead of one!