THE FOLLOWING IS FOUND IN WHO AM I?

MY LIFE AND TIMES is about how I was born into one family in 1952 with whom I lived for two months.  Then, I was adopted and renamed.  I lived with another set of parents and siblings for 65 years, then returned to my biological family to complete the rest of my life in 2018.

Since I was adopted at two-months old, I cannot remember any of my biological family.  I never knew my real mother or father; nor could I recall any brothers or sisters I may have had.  You can say in a way, I’ve lived two separate lives.

This writing briefly describes my adopted life as a Juvenile/teenager that would shape my future in my adopted identity.  I turned 17 in 1969.

“FROM THE INSIDE” covers my adult life beginning in 1969 when I first went to prison.  It details most of my crimes and prison stays, my life on drugs, and homeless, up until 2009 my final return to prison.   I was released in 2011, if I recall right, never to returned to prison again.  However, from 2011 until 2018 I continued to use drugs.

“MY LONG JOURNEY HOME” describes the latter two years of my life from 2017 up to the present, 2019, during which time I was somehow mysteriously reunited with my biological family against all odds.

My long journey home is about how I rose from being a drug addict, homeless, and sleeping outside on the ground under a tree in Pontiac, Michigan, to living in a beautiful home in the suburbs of Las Vegas.  One of my nieces bought me a plane ticket and I moved to Vegas.  I learned I had one brother and one sister still alive out of 6 of us.  I also have 4 biological nieces. 

Its about how I reconnected with the gifts God had given me.  I left the drug and homeless life behind.

It’s about being featured on radio, television, playing piano in front of thousands at the Smith Center, receiving my certification as a Microsoft Innovative Educator, teaching computers, becoming the Chief Technology Officer for one of my nieces businesses, motivational speaking to our younger generation, writing poems, developing websites, creating a detailed study guide for the Google Calendar among other accomplishments.

I give credit and honor to God for the part he played in bringing me back to my birth family.  Although my adopted family were wonderful, there was still something missing in my life that I just could not put my finger on.  Once I was reunited with my birth family, I began to understand how “blood” connects a family. In my adopted life, I think I was like a lost sheep that had wandered into a flock of unfamiliar sheep with whom I would be raised.  No blood connection. It was as if was living with strangers all my life.

I currently live with one of my four nieces along with her father and mother.  Her mother is my sister. I can’t really say I’m happy because I don’t know what happiness entails.  But I am at peace. They are my family, but it’s like I’ve been drafted to a new football team and I don’t know the players.  I’m getting to know the niece I live with pretty well and I’ve found we have very similar ways.

Apart from when I got my own apartment, I’ve been here for about 10 months.  My one year anniversary in arriving in Vegas will be March 26, 2019.

After living with my niece for about ninety days, I got my own apartment that lasted 30 days before I was evicted.  That is a story in-itself that I recount in another of my blogs – The Cartoon.

“THE CARTOON” as I titled it – was during THE ABOVE 30-day period that I relapsed to drugs and made that my life. It describes a life so full of turmoil and pain that I did not expect to live.  I had homeless people that I didn’t know sleeping in my house doing drugs all day.  Eventually, management gave me an eviction notice and I left.  That was about 8 months ago.   Other than those 30-days, I’ve been clean in terms of drugs and continuing to make progress both in my recovery and in my endeavors.

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