Audio Clip Transcript
We lived in the same neighborhood. You know, I would always be around him. Well groomed from head to toe, smelled good. We just clicked and he, I'll never forget that day that he told me that he loved me, and he wanted to, he said I want to take care of you. That really stuck out because I grew up in a home where my dad always took care of my mom. And I thought, wow, this is a family oriented man. I know we're young. A lot of things that I liked about him was he was a hard worker, but he loved to tell jokes and play pranks. And things that I did not like about him - he was very impatient. We were struggling financially, because I had just had my daughter, my daughter was only five months. I was working, but I'm not making that much. Our phone got disconnected. Our lights were about to get turned off. We were barely making ends meet. He was also persistent, very persistent, over money that he claimed was owed to him. So he would constantly harass the guy, keep going over the guy's house and confronting him. So that night, that evening, we were at home, and it was in the winter time. And he wanted me to go with him to confront the guy. And I'm like, no, I'm not going, plus we had the baby. And he was very upset. And I have, I've never seen him this upset. It was like you could see steam. That's just how, it's like almost like a rage. So he stormed out the door and sped off. Maybe few hours after he left, there was a knock on my door. And, um, it was a friend, and she said, I got sad news. And finally the guy, um, snapped and, killed him. And I just, I mean, I cried, but I was more of, you know, I was in shock. Like, I lost a part of me. I'm like, Oh my gosh, he shouldn't have went over there. And then, I found out he was cheating. And then she even came to the funeral. It later came out after everything was over, and the funeral and everything, that, um, he had a record. I want to say robbery or armed robbery or...Another thing I found out, we were about to get put out because he wasn't paying the rent like I thought he was. I thought he was paying the rent. And he wasn't the person that I thought, or that I fell in love with, I didn't know, it was like I didn't know him.
I was poor in many ways. Financially. I was poorly loved. You know, I was broken. Only thing I had to my name was my daughter and a car. I had to quit my job because, it was just too much going on. I had to move because I didn't have the money to catch up the rent. I stayed with a friend and I had to send my daughter with my mom. Ah, I just, my mom, I have a supportive family. My mom is very supportive. I leaned on her a lot, and other family members as well, and friends. Though I was short a lot, so my dad would give me a check every week. I just lived a good single life. I raised my daughter, me and her traveled. We spent a lot of time with my family. I worked. So, I said I'm gonna just get to know me and love myself. I realize, you can be rich without having money. You can be rich in happiness, rich in love from friends and family, because I'm rich in strength as well. Times that I'm rich? I would say that for the last 25 years or so. I'm not rich financially - I wish I was, but [laughter] to a certain degree, I am.