From the day I opened up my beautiful dark brown eyes, I would say that I had been exposed to nothing but a shattered and life altering childhood. I was placed from foster home to foster home as a result of my biological mother being irresponsible and only caring about herself and her drug addiction. I at a young age was I exposed to alot of things that I shouldn’t have been exposed to all under the age of 5. I’ve seen my mother engage in sexual acts with both men and women in front of me. I remember being in little closets with my other siblings (sisters) and trying to kiss on them and touch on them because I was trying to mimic what I saw my mother doing. Which really impacted me in my adult life because I became very interested and curious In sexuality and other women. It always made me wonder if I was supposed to be with a man or a woman. But that’s a different story for a different day! I’ve seen my mother getting beat with an extension cord, and to cover up the screaming the man turned on the vacuum and told me to walk away. Ive seen my mother take a beating and then go downstairs the next day and fix that same man some breakfast. I remember a time where she showed me the scars and welts on her leg from a beating she had gotten and said “see look baby, look what daddy did to me.” I remember my mother not being around a lot. Which was hard because I had a sister that was only 2 at the time and I felt it was my responsibility to take care of her. I remember rummaging through the refrigerator at the age of 4 or 5 looking for condiments and ketchup and mustard packets to feed my sister because we had no other food In the house. I remember trying to make her sugar water because I didn’t know what else I should be giving her. I remember having a grandfather that lived right across the way from us, I would go and knock on his door and ask for 2 slices of bread. One for me and one to feed my sister because it was the only thing I knew to ask for to eat. I remember struggling at 4 or 5 to change her poopy diapers because who else was going to be around to do it. For as long as I could remember my mother was always in an out of my life and disappearing. I remember a time when my mother and I went to the store and she told me to wait outside for her. Well she never came to get me and the the next think I know a cop car was pulling up and putting me in the back of it. Of course I was too young to comprehend anything that was happening to me. I remember this one time we lived with a guy named Kevin, and while Kevin was at work or out of the house, my mother unplugged the tv and picked it up and told me to follow her. I followed her down the street where I literally witnesses her sell the tv for money or drugs. Not sure which one it was honestly. I remember Kevin getting home later and asking my mom where our TV was, and her lying saying she didn’t know. She said that she believed the house had been broken into and robbed.Keep in mind this was all happening to me under the age of 5. I remember this time, that I was in this apartment with a bunch of people either selling or using. At the time I was too young to understand. But I remember vividly what happened next. A man busted into the door yelling “where’s Tynetra” “where is she” he was holding a gun up and had told everyone to get down on the ground. He looked all around the house and couldn’t find her. He shoved me out of the way causing me to bump my head on the wall. The entire time I’m walking around the apartment crying and screaming for my mother. I remember him finally saying “damn wrong house” and walking out after he couldn’t find her. Something after that told me to go look in the bathroom and pull back the curtain and there she was hiding in the bathtub. I still remember seeing my mom (BIOLOGICAL MOTHER) for the last time at a court hearing to sign over her rights as a parent to my sisters dad’s mother. Her jaw was wired shut from a beating of some sort, not sure if it was a boyfriend or pertaining to drugs or money. So she barely could even talk. That was the day she signed over her rights and I was moved to Ohio to start a new life with my sister and my new family.