Tuesday, February 23, 2010

#188 R

R was born on an Army base in New Jersey where his father was stationed. His early childhood seemed great. Everybody took care of him and his little sister. They were always laughing and roaming around the neighborhood. R didn’t know that his father was a drug addict or that the family was poor. Over the years, R has forgotten most of his life between ages 6 and 11. All he remembers is the fighting and trying to stop his father from hitting his mother even though R was never big enough to stop him. At 12, the family moved to Baltimore and R started getting into trouble. He was a white kid living in a neighborhood of mostly black kids. He tried to fit in by cracking jokes and playing sports, but everybody knew that he didn’t belong. R didn't like school, so he dropped out in 9th grade. He didn’t think he was ever going to be anything. R had no supervision, so he started hanging out with the drugs dealers in the park. They seemed so cool. This led to R smoking crack, becoming a crack addict, and, eventually, shooting a drug dealer, while trying to rob him of his stash. After that, R spent most of his 20s in prison for assault with a deadly weapon. In prison, R got his GED and learned how to use computers (he’s now an animator in Hollywood). R says that prison isn’t as bad as people think. After R got out, he met B in line at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Getting married and having kids best thing that ever happened to R. R likes having somebody to be responsible to, somebody to be responsible for. He doesn’t want to let B down. Also, to have somebody love you like a child does is amazing. It made R slow down. The kids are a reason to live. There is so much more to life.

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