by Christina Peterson

Created on: August 03, 2007

My Father was a drug addict. My mother has a gambling addiction.

I grew up with my mom, and it was really hard.We moved frequently, and i was always sick because she smokes 2 packs a day, and because of her addiction we hardly had healthy food to eat.When i was four my brother arrived, and my mom learned soon after he was born that he has developmental disabilities.

My dad was addicted to heroin,crack/cocaine,pot,alcohol,and pain killers.I rarely saw him because he would only see me when he wasn't using, and that was a really rare event.He couldn't talk to me on the phone because he shook to much to be able to keep the phone near his ear.

He was supposed to pay my mother 50 Canadian dollars a month in child support, but he would pay sporadically or not at all.When my mom did receive child support from my dad, she would immediately go to the corner store and buy cigarettes and lottery tickets.My mother was very resentful of my father, and the fact that i came from him, it was a very normal thing for me to be told that she wished she never had me.I am very lucky to be the person i am, because when she would say that to me,i knew in my heart that i wished i never had her either.

Growing up was very hard, and i am so ashamed to admit that i did not tell anyone who my parents were.I was so embarrassed of where i came from that i would evade answering questions from my friends as long as i could.When i turned thirteen i began to babysit and do odd jobs for people, so i was earning money to buy food for my brother and i, and so we could afford proper clothing in every season.On a typical day i would get home from school, do homework, help my brother with his, make dinner, cleanup the house as best i could, make sure my brother had a bath, then i would be in bed by 9:30.

I look back now as a married mother of one, and i don't regret how i grew up, or who my parents were anymore.My father died of a drug overdose 2 years ago, and my mother and i talk, but i have given her boundaries that she has to respect.

Both my parents were dead beats, but i found positive roll models in my community, and i harbor no resentment to either of them, they got the job done, and for that i am thankful.

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