Lost In The Right Direction

My story isn't very different from a lot of you. I'm 34, grew up in the borough's of NY, have a wonderful family and great career....and oh yes.. and I am a lesbian. See.... I told you not so different. The journey though is what moves me on a whole other ride. Lost In The Right Direction is going to take you through my life in a not so secret kind of way to show you my "art of living". I'd be lying if I told you it's not going to be an emotional rollercoaster. It would also be a lie if I said I didn't face challenges every here and there. I've hit rock bottom and climbed my way back up. The funny thing about when people talk about hitting rock bottom is that it only happens once. Maaaannnnnnnnnnn that's far from anyone's truth. Falling or getting knocked down is part of life. You just have to be ok with failing forward. If you retain anything from our time together let it be that no matter how slow it's going or how long it takes you to get to where you want to be in life , crawling is still moving.

So lets catch you up and get this story going. Born in Januarys of '87 in the boogie down Bronx. Mom is Puerto Rican dad is Cherokee Indian which makes me a pretty good looking kid. At this point in my life I am one of three kids and the youngest. Mom leaves dad at the age of 2 and Queens here we come. Richmond Hill to be more exact and this ladies and gentleman is where my learning and character start to take shape.

Stepfather number one comes into the picture in '91'ish and sibling number for is in the works. His preferred name was "Funk".... So we'll call him by that name. Funk was a young black man with dreams of being a music producer. To set the scene, I am about 4 in a 2 bedroom apartment, my older brother, mom, Funk, a little sister on the way and me (I know I initially said I was the youngest of three up there but we will circle back to that). Everyday in our living room dinning room combo, was a homemade recording studio for what Funk called "The Dead Heads". Probably a catchy name in the early 90's? Day in day out non stop rap sessions, weed and alcohol .Finally one day they let me in on the fun. About 5 years old now, the rap trio decided to write me a little something to record. And it goes a little something like this "My name is V and I'll tell you again, I'm not your friend. I bust you with a full tin gun. You better run before I come with style that's never been done. I leave the whole crowd in fear. Peace man I'm outta here." With excitement the play it for my mom. To say the very least...This did not impress nor make her happy at all. At this point the in-house rap studio was almost non existent and my potential rap career is put on hold. A few months later my kid sister was born! I'm no longer the baby but that didn't bother me in the least. It was at this point however that when all I knew was happiness and love I would start to get my first taste of pain and helplessness. It's at the age of five that I learn what responsibilities are and some that I probably shouldn't have had. You know the saying “this is the calm before the storm”? Haha sike!! Only in movies my people. We are about to go through a lot of storms way before the calm comes.