I was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 28th, 1965. I was the youngest of thirteen children in a Roman Catholic household. My father died when I was three years old, so I was very close to my mother and seemed attached to her hip, and for the most part my childhood was a happy one.
When my brothers finished high school they joined the military. I remember it vividly, the ‘going away’ parties for each of them. My sisters married or moved out on their own. My mother had remarried when I was six, and my step-father was a wonderful man, supportive in every way. He loved my mother dearly. By the time I was ten there was only myself and a sister and two young brothers at home.
By the age of fifteen we had moved to Queens, New York, and I was attending Franklin K. Lane High School. I was popular and had many friends. I was thought of as smart. I later transferred to John Adams High School. Unfortunately, I started hanging out and smoking PCP.
In 1983, I became pregnant. The experience changed my life. I was the only child at home then, and my mother and step-father decided to try tough love. They moved four blocks away, leaving me the family residence. My mom believed that my being a mother and having all these responsibilities was what I needed to mature. I did my best to settle down and in December 1983, my son Justin was born. When he was seven months old, I enrolled in Royal Business School, to become a computer terminal operator. When Justin was fourteen months old, I was arrested and then convicted for this crime.
