I had to look back to even remember where I left off on my story of my past. It turns out that I haven't written about it since January. I thought it was about time to add to it. Here is a little update to get you caught up again.
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Junior High-
By the time I was in Junior high things were getting pretty bad. My siblings and I hated being home alone with our dad. Which was very often because my dad could not hold a steady job. By this time in my life I was old enough to see things that I had never seen before. For instance, I knew when my dad was drinking. He would drink until he passed out on the couch. Leaving whatever was left in his cup for whatever child found it. I kept a close eye on my siblings.
My dad was a very violent man. I remember an instance where for some reason my younger brother, Gavin was getting in trouble. That was not very unheard of in our household because to my dad we were just not allowed to "act like children." Anyways, so Gavin was getting in trouble. I heard my dad yelling and immediately went into my room. My dad came storming down the hallway into the boys' room threw Gavin across the room. I remember I came out of my room and stood up for Gavin. Saying that he didn't do it. It was so scary. My mom wasn't at home because she was at work. Oh but don't worry I told her about it.
One night while everyone was home, the doorbell rang. I got to the door first and answered it. To much of my surprise, the person at the door was a policeman. They asked for my dad. So, I went and got my dad. Well, my dad stepped outside. My mom was home so I ran and found her and told her that a policeman was at the door. Then my mom stepped outside to find out what was going on. Later, after this incident she told me that when she stepped outside, police where coming out of the woodwork. My dad turned to her and said "Oh hey honey, I am a suspect in a bank robbery." That must have shocked my mom. And again later, she told me that she kind of thought he did it but, was trying not to believe it.
Anyways, they searched our house, car, and what they said was the get away vehicle-a 15 passenger van. They found nothing.
The car was later taken because my dad hadn't paid the bill in like 3 months.
Not long after this incident, a day came that would change how my life forever...
One day I took a shower, like I did everyday. Nothing out of the usual. I remember my dad coming into the bathroom and telling me "when you're done, come into my room" He was going to show me something. I don't remember exactly. So when I got done with my shower I went into the room. Basically, he had me pull down my pants. Yeah and he touched me down there. He said he was putting medicine on. Then he did the same thing to my little sisters and had me look to see what he was doing. I wasn't comfortable at all with the situation. I was only 11 or 12 at the time so, I didn't think anything about it. I didn't know it was wrong. So, I didn't tell my mom. He never threatened or anything. I could of told my mom but just never even thought about it.
Then a month or so after that horrific day. My mom called Gavin, Kelton, and I into her room. She told us that she was going to divorce our dad. That she should of done it a long time ago and that she knew it was going to get hard, but that we should stick together and be strong.
Well, my dad got kicked out by my mom. It was scary sometimes when I would get home from school because he would be there. He wasn't supposed to be there.
While my mom was at work one day, another instance, I answered the door to find a man with a paper. He said it was for my mom. Being a little kid, you always have to snoop. So I snooped. It was a court order basically saying you are 3 months months or so behind in rent. You have to be out in 3 days or else something...blah blah. That is all I remember. I gave it to my mom right when she got home and she just started crying.
Well, my mom, her close friends, and I stayed up for the next 2 nights clearing out our house. My ward helped clear out the house. Basically, we just threw everything into boxes. There was no time for packing all organized. My mom was cleaning out the laundry room. So, she had to unplug the washer and dryer. She pulled one of them forward and found something. It was a bag of ink-dyed money. The evidence the police had been looking for to charge my dad. I was playing outside and came in and my mom was on the phone just in tears. She was calling the police, I found out what was going on and just ran outside crying ready to just die. That was the first time, the only time that I actually felt helpless. I was crying so hard and didn't know what to do. My brothers were all still playing...I told them that he really did it. None of them got emotional like I did though.
So, now not only was my mom in the process of getting divorced from a criminal, we were without a home and no place to go.
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After being evicted from our house, we moved in with a family friend. She lived in a little 2 bedroom apartment. So you can imagine how crowded it must have been with all 8 of us plus the 4 people that were already living there. It wasn't that long until we had to get out of there because the landlord found out and was threatening to evict her if we didn't leave.
Next we ended up moving in with my mom's aunt. We stayed there for what seemed like 2 weeks. It could have been shorter or longer, I don't remember. I guess my mom's aunt got mad though and reported my mom to the child services because she wasn't around that much. She was trying to find a place for us to live so that we could move out of her house. We moved out as soon as possible leaving all 8 of us with no place to go.
This must have been one of the hardest time for my mom. She probably had no clue where to go.
She ended up driving to downtown Salt Lake to the D.E.I. or something like that to talk to the church about putting us in a hotel until we could find a place to go. This has got to be the worst part of my life. I would have rather slept in the van instead of go stay in a hotel in downtown Salt Lake. After less then a week my mom found a house in Sandy and we immediately moved in.
So finally finding a place to call home, there were still more surprises yet to come our way. Not good ones at all.
