The house was burning down around us, but I had already lost most of my stuff, so what did I care?

It was time to be on the move again, this time with no destination in mind. We had left Lexington with a car full of our stuff and we were heading back with no more than could fit in our trunk.

After some nights sleeping in our car, we settled on a tobacco farm. Despite being just ten years old, I was handed a hatchet and sent into the fields to work.

Throughout these experiences, I keep returning to one question: where were all the adults who should have protected me? My father, school officials, social services – the systematic failure that allowed a child to fall through the cracks into homelessness and labor exploitation remains inexplicable decades later. Perhaps most unsettling is how these shocking experiences simply became just another day in my young life.

This journey through my past continues to reveal how childhood trauma shapes us in ways we're still discovering years later. The stories may be difficult, but sharing them has become an essential part of understanding who I am today. Join me as we continue exploring the formative experiences that no child should endure, yet somehow I survived.

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