(2019) Hi, I'm Lena. My life right now isn't perfect but, I'm happy with the way it's going. You see while I didn't grow up in the projects. My home life wasn't all that great either. Man, sometimes situation that you go through make you a better person. Don't get me wrong my family was very disfunctional but, we were together. Even at an early age; I felt there was something more than, what I knew about life. I was only eight and I lived with my mom Grace, my grandmother Sable and my little sister Gabby. I wasn't really sure where I fit in this family; I just knew I was there. For the longest time I had my Sable all to myself. Gabby came not too long before everyone else. All of a sudden I only had me. Yeah, my cousins and I had a lot of fun but, we also bumped heads a lot. Quoting movies was one of our favorite things to do. Scary movies were the best because whenever we wanted to scare the smaller kids, we would just say a line from one of the scary ones. We would make up different games. have dodgeball tournaments with all the kids on the block. But, more than any other activity we had; we always had each other. Atleast for a little while.
Sable was old and sickly but, she would often talk to me about so many different things and people. Sable was a nurse without an education. She had raised two generations of children, along with her own children. Because of the prominent families she worked for, Sable was able to get a nursing job at the local hospital. She only had a first grade education. Sable taught herself how to read with only the bible. She learned how to count money from her first employer; who often sent Sable on errands by herself. Grace is the baby daughter of Sable and Henry Longlove. In total, Sable and Henry had six children. Three boys Ronald, Jason and William and three daughters Simone, Kathy and Grace. Everyone was grown at this point and had moved out ; all accept Grace. For some reason it was as if Grace was stuck to Sable. Almost as if there were some sort of invisible force that made her stay. I was always curious as to why Grace felt the need to always be in the same house as Sable even before she got sick. There were several times that Grace had her own home but, no matter where she moved to ; Grace would always move right back to Sables house.
After Kathy's kids moved into Sables house; I really started feeling invisible. Grace was always at work or with some man. When she did finally get home, The only thing she wanted to do was sleep. Most of the time, Sable would tell me that Grace was tired from work. But, after I turned twelve and Grace was still too busy for me; I knew that Sable loved me enough to make an excuse for Grace's behavior. This was one of the many reasons that I adored Sable so much, no matter what happened Sable was always there.
By the time I turned fifteen, we were still living at Sable's house. Gabby was in my terms a fat little messy midget. Although she wasn't supposed to be here; Gabby could do no wrong in the eyes of Grace. I on the other hand was the daughter that made Grace face the ugly truth about herself. Not only had Grace not been an active roll in my life. She allowed me to be molested by my cousin. I stopped looking at Grace as my mother after that. I saw Grace as a sister that only cared about money and men. I very seldom listened to anything that Grace had to say. Whenever Grace tried to discipline me she would get mad and say " I can't stand you Lena, you never listen to me and you make me sick ". Deep down I would be tickled pink because I knew that Grace was only mad because she couldn't make me cry.
Sable died right after I gave birth to my son Mason. At that very moment I knew, that I could only depend on the things that Sable had taught me ; and the common sense GOD gave me. Before Sable was even cold in the ground; her possessions had been divided and Grace and Gabby were on their way to Chicago. Grace didn't even give leaving me a second thought. She was finally free of everything and everyone that had kept her in Pickens county for all those years. Now at the age of sixteen, I had to be the grown up in my own life and make my own way.