When I Was Five
Before I was born my mom wasn't doing too well. She had been kicked out of her parents house, separated from her sister in a divorce, was battling mental health issues, and became a single mom with no sign of the father. When I was born I meant the world to her. I was the only family she had and I was the only thing she looked forward to. We didn't have a lot of money but that didn't stop her from doing everything she could to make sure my life was better than hers at my age. We lived in a tiny one bedroom/one bathroom house in LA where the bedroom was the living room and the bathroom was my playroom. But that didn't stop her from having my birthday parties be the biggest and most expensive parties ever. It was as if she knew my life would be turned upside down so soon, but no one else had the slightest idea. My mom’s best friend was able to be by her side through all of this. He was in the delivery room during my birth and cut my umbilical cord, and even let us use his house for doing our laundry or just to hang out. His partner was always there for us too, they got together the year I was born so I don’t know any life without either of them.