I have learned that addiction destroys the lives of many people, as well as the lives of the people around the addict. For a while I felt like my mom’s addiction had destroyed my life too. My mom has been addicted to crystal methamphetamine for the last seven years, and I do not think she will ever stop. Imagine being less important than drugs to your own mother. I know that my mom’s drugs will always come before me. Growing up with an addict mother has been one of the most difficult things I have ever been through, yet her addiction has also forced me to become resilient and strong.

My parents divorced when I was ten, and my mom then moved my siblings and me to Georgia where we lived in a trailer park. We had very little while living there, and we ate nothing but rice and beans for a month straight. I remember going from church to church just to get enough food for us to survive. My sisters and I ran around until all hours of the night, doing whatever we wanted because our mom was too busy doing drugs. At the time I loved the freedom. However, in reality I was lacking the guidance a ten year old needs.

After only two months, we were evicted from the trailer park. We then moved into a ramshackled down house that did not have electricity, a bathroom, or even a lock on the front door. The windows in the house were all smashed in. Anybody could intrude. My mom’s boyfriend slept with a shotgun next to him because it was not a safe place to live.

Five months later, my mom sent my sisters and me to live with my grandparents in Pennsylvania. It has been hard growing up without my mom. She has not been here to see me grow into the young woman that I am today. I have changed so much since I was ten years old. At first I was extremely sad when she left, and I felt like the world would not be the same without her. Then I became bitter because I felt like she was too consumed with her drug use to raise her children.

I have finally realized that I can make it without my mom. Instead of letting her addiction bring me down, it has only motivated me to succeed in life. I am now a strong young woman with goals of an education and a career. I will make something of my life simply because I never want to grow up and fall into addiction and lose everything like my mom did. All of the pain and struggle I have experienced in my life has only brought me to the top of life, but I would not have made it here without the climb. I know that I will continue to overcome anything else that life throws at me because my mom’s addiction has morphed me into the strong person that I am today.