Chapter 4, Part 1
MOVING BACK TO SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO
Then, we moved back to Chicago. My aunt and uncle had gotten a 1-bedroom apartment that was like 600 sq. ft.
I slept in a sleeping bag that whole first summer I got there. We were too poor, and there was no room for a bed for me.
Soon after, when we fully realized that wasn’t enough room to function normally, I started living at my grandma’s house where I lived on and off for years.
This is my grandma’s tiny little house that I spent my teenage years in and also months at a time during tough life transitions after 18. It was always my back up place to go. I grew up in the unfinished basement.
I was also hardcore pigeon-toed. I used to stand for hours with my feet inward and play video games.
My aunt was going to have my legs broken and then reset so they would be straight but we couldn’t afford it.
So she kept scaring me telling me they would have to break my legs if I didn’t start learning to walk straight lol.
This is me in 7th Grade, I think. You can kind of tell I’m pigeon-toed in this picture. I also wear size 12 1/2 shoes so I think back then I probably had big feet too which didn’t help me any.
After I got made fun of enough by other kids over time, I started to mentally focus and think about how I walked.
After a couple of years, I was able to pull off the notion that I walk straight to not get made fun of for it.
Nowadays, I walk with a demeanor that I had to practice for years to walk straight without consciously thinking about it. But if you ever see me walk slowly or even run, you can tell I am pigeon-toed. 🙂
School started and I didn’t know I wasn’t going to be in a normal school’s behavior program. Instead, I was suddenly put into an extreme behavior school and the fun began.