Both of our parents walked out on us.
Growing up in the city isn’t easy.
Growing up in a low-income building in the city makes it more difficult.
When you have parents who didn’t care if you were there, it was almost impossible to grow as a child. I had to grow up quickly since my dad was almost always in jail. Mom didn’t really want us around, and she was always leaving us alone for two or three days in a row. Had I been a teenager, I probably would have been okay, but my sister was four and I was only eight, when she left us the last time. I locked us inside the apartment and made sure to feed my little sister. She was doing a lot of crying and I assured her that someone would soon come. When two weeks passed, I called the police. I knew no one wanted us, but then the social worker showed up. I loved that my sister and I ended up in a foster home with people who really wanted us. Regardless of this turn around, I was left with a lot of anger because of what happened. By the time I was eighteen, I had been taking antidepressants for two years. When I turned eighteen, they gave me a prescription for medical marijuana. Within a week of getting the medical marijuana, I was feeling more relaxed than I had in years. The marijuana was able to soothe my nerves, ease my anxieties that go with the PTSD, and help me to relax. I don’t know if I will ever quit using marijuana, because everyone has noticed a difference.