Growing up

I was born in San Francisco in 1988. To my father and my lovely mother. They separated when I was about a year old my dad was a very different person back then he had a lot of drinking problems. When I was three my mom and I moved to Berkeley everything was peaceful and nice. I remember when the springs and summers went on forever. When we lived in Berkeley my mom met her then boyfriend. He was a glassblower and the father of my two sisters my mom and him were together for eight years before separating. When I was seven I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome which is a form of high functioning Autisum. That was around the time I moved into the house I remember the most. The Edwards street house. We had kid neighbors that would come over to play some of which I still know. We would have lemonade stands,art and baking projects my mother would create and bike around and play until the sunset. it could have gone on for ages.  I remember hiking in the Berkeley hills as a kid picking wild blackberries and having picnics. Those were the good days. We moved to san francisco when I was sixteen because my mom needed to find work. So we left our old edwards street house behind but I still remember it like it was yesterday. In San francisco we moved around a lot atleased five different houses and then tragedy struck when my mom got sick with cancer. She fought it off the first time I prayed to god it wouldnt come back despite what the doctors had said but unfortunately it came back and she battled it bravely through surgeries and chemo no one would have even guessed she was sick most of the time sadly she passed away last year and out time together was over. A lot of my early adulthood was spent taking care of my mother especially the last year of her life when she become really sick so I never really had the experiences a lot of young adults have some I am great full for not having and my sisters and I were raised a certian way. This past year since losing my mom it has been really hard for me but at the same time I have grown as a person. I have learned when to say no and not to let others take advantage of me and I have found real friends through a program called Best Buddies which matches adults and teens with IDD in one to one friendships and I have made some of the best friends ever through best buddies who have shown me a good time. I am now a proud ambassador for Best Buddies I love every minute of it. I have also gotten my first real job working in an office and I am in school studying graphics. Life couldn't be better now and through all the struggles I have become a better person and I have found my self. I am happy.