Where?

I was born in California and raised primarily in South Los Angeles, with time spent in Corpus Christi, Texas in the sixth grade and high school. My paternal grandparents were my primary caretakers. My maternal grandmother was murdered when I was around 3 and my maternal grandfather, well I didn’t meet him until my late teens when I moved to Corpus Christi. I did have a step paternal grandfather that I would spend time with from time to time. I am a middle child on my mother’s side and the only child on my father’s side. With my grandparents life was stable and most people would say I had it rather “easy”. My grandparents were business owners and hard workers. They gave me a comfortable life. We went on family vacations, had birthday parties and even had a housekeeper….do they say that word now a days?

Anyway, although I wasn’t allowed to do everything I wanted. I had everything I needed, with them at least. My parents had a drug addiction, but my grandmother had a gambling addiction. It was known by everyone, but discussed by no one. I was informed by my grandfather that he also at one point drank excessively, was it addiction or alcoholism I am not really sure. Having real conversations, sharing emotions, being vulnerable were not realities in my home. On the other hand, addiction was more transparent with my mother’s side of the family. My paternal grandfather was also an alcoholic and drug addict, so addiction runs deep for me.