In this intimate episode, I sit down with my mother to delve into her childhood abandonment and neglect experiences which stemmed from her mother. We have an in-depth conversation regarding the s*xual and physical abuses she and my uncle experienced while being held at the Forest Haven facility, which was officially known as the D.C. Children's Center, an asylum for children and adults with intellectual disabilities located in Laurel Maryland. The facility was closed in 1991. 

Through our candid conversation, we explore the lasting impact of these early challenges she endured raising us in poverty-stricken Southeast Washington, DC. Further, she reveals how uncovering many of the traumas shaped her married and parenting life. My mother openly discusses her journey towards masking the abuses, hurt and pain to keep going and striving to make it in life. Her story offers insight, resilience, and hope, shedding light on the complexities of over-coming past hardships, the keeping of secrets in Black families, and how the abuses of slavery, illiteracy, poverty, alcoholism, domestic abuse, drugs and s*xual abuse, impacted our ancestors and was passed down to us with generational childhood traumas.

To my loving mother~Dear Mommy,

I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for your honesty and openness in sharing our family’s history with me. Your truth has given me a deeper understanding of who I am and the roots from which I come. It is a gift that I will cherish always. Thank you for trusting me with this knowledge and for helping me connect more fully to our legacy. Without you I would not have made it through my own domestic violence marriage ordeal. When I moved you moved! We are and will forever be two peas in a pod. Thank you for supporting me with raising my hard-headed and disrespectful think they know it all GenZ children. I sincerely apologize for the pain and hurt they have caused you. Thank you for never leaving my side regardless of how difficult my journey of life became. Thank you for putting so much responsibility on me at my young age, because now I know how to survive in this world with my moral compass always intact. Thank you for showing me that every battle is not meant to be fought, and how to treat adversaries when they mistreated me by walking away and keeping my peace.

You are my warrior woman, and my inspiration to never, never ever give up in this life until my last breath. As you would tell me, "God has the final say!"

With all of my love and appreciation,

Your daughter,

Marci