General Timeline covering 1977-1991

• Born in Philadelphia on September 3, 1977
• By the age of 3 was performing in various dance shows and parades, making parents proud to have a little girl, so beautiful and talented.
• By the age of 5, had already been through 2 house fires and witnessing domestic violence in the extreme.  Began taking care of brothers and myself to help out.
• Still dancing and now playing soccer as well.
• Upward to the age of 6, the fighting and abuses became public and it didn't look like the sun would ever shine over our skies again.
• Collected the street numbers with Pop-pop on a daily basis.  Parents sold the store, but I still worked every day.
• Moved in with grandparents, across the street and began to spend more time away from home, staying with various family members.
• Mom forced me to tell Dad that I hated him, which was the end of Daddy's little girl.  Things would never be the same.
• Dad moved back to North Philadelphia and began to use drugs heavily. Even though the boys were allowed to see him, I wasn't able to spend time with Dad for another few years.
• Dance and soccer were no longer a part of my life, but I still carried on with my training routines for future purposes.  I wasn't going to let anything stop me from being a rich superstar.  Once I was rich, I could come back home to Jewtown and fix everything that my people could never afford or have; like the playgrounds or a leaky roof.  I would  open a business that would create jobs, because everyone here was poor and losing their jobs, as companies were moving south for cheaper labor.  None of our parent had an education, as their families were too poor and everyone had to work.  Times were hard all the time in Jewtown.
• 1985: parents were supposed to be working things out, but Mom had boyfriends in and out of the house. Women used to come looking to beat Mom up. Dad found out and beat Mom badly.  Mom's parents had set it up, to teach her a lesson.  When Dad got out of control, they had him locked up as we watched.
• Mom was on all kinds of drugs, partying, and sleeping with her sister's boyfriend to pay the rent.  She began to get more abusive with us daily, especially me.
• I was 8 years old when she beat me so badly, I wandered my way through the hood, trying to find my father's house.  When I did, he was so bad on drugs that he sent me back home.
• 1986: By the time I was 9 years old, she had put my older brother and I out, taking only him back.  Again, I went to my father, and was sent back home.  This was the point where I realized I was on my own.  I took all that I needed to get by, went to a playground near Dad's house to make a plan, hitting up the corner store where he got credit, to eat.  I sat in the playground until I devised enough planning to get me through the remainder of the school year. I would call my aunt at the end of the school year to arrange to spend the summer visiting.  Being homeless was a shame, so I would vow not to tell anyone of my situation.  I stayed at friends' houses every weekend, and stay where I could on school nights.  Sometimes I would go back to my Mom, but that usually resulted in a severe beating.
• By this point, nobody was taking care of me, so my brother went out and got criminally creative to provide for me.  After having seen him in the back of a police cruiser several times, I decided not to go to him over my problems.  The last thing my baby brother needed, was to be left alone with my mother, unprotected.
• I began to frequent my father's house, stealing small amounts of drugs to sell.  Looking at my options, it was either that or sell me.  There was no way I was going to commit a sin.  I didn't know that selling drugs was bad, because I had seen it all my life.  I knew the game well.  The money I saved between work and sales would get me a boarding room.
• I put myself back in soccer, having gotten my father to sign the papers.  I told him that my frined's parents would pay and provide transportation, but Mom wouldn't sign the papers.  He signed the papers.  I hustled the money to pay for my gear and dues.  Nobody ever came to the games, practices or anything.  I used to watch the other parents shout and cheer for their kids, but this would ignite the fire of determination and perseverence within me.  For three years we went to the championships and never a cheer for me.  I knew there would be a better day... someday.
• It was during this time that I started to get close to my first stepfather, despite not having lived at home.  He had four kids of his own, but always made a few extra dollars to spare me to live.
• David trained me to become the first female boxer.  He eventually convinced my mother to let me come back home. This wouldn't last very long.  It was a good thing, becasue my best friend's parents were beginning to question me about my parents, so it was good that they finally got to meet one.  My mother was pretty sly at pretending to be the model mom, making my best friend and her family question me about the things I had confided in them.  One day, my mother forgot that Milly was sleeping over.  she came home in the middle of the night drunk and beat me with a mop stick.  Milly came out of the bathroom horrified and immediately called her parents to come get us.  This would be a positive turning point in my life.
• I stayed at Milly's almost all the time however my relationship with her mother began to come between us.  That was one thing Milly couldn't share.
• We soon graduated 8th grade and her parents took us on a Disney vacation for 2 weeks.  It was among the greatest times in my childhood.