Prologue
We all grow older; it's an inevitable thing. Kind of like when the sun rises, no matter how hard you wish and hope and will it to stay in the sky, it has to set. If it did not set then we would never be able to see the stars, and if we did not grow older we would never really be able to live.
For me getting older was an adventure. People say that an adventure isn't just living it's a journey, but to me they are wrong, to me my whole life was an adventure. Starting from that day I meet the four people who would change it forever. Of course I didn't know it then that my life was changing. I only knew that my life had went from bad to worse.
Growing up in New York is tough, growing up in New York as a street rat is tougher, but growing up in New York as a street rat with friends is an adventure. And so this is where my story begins.
Some say that when you grow older you forget things, where you come from, who you are and people you once new. For me this was almost true, until I was reminded. Photographs are worth a thousand words, but mine; well mine are worth a million more.
Chapter One:
" She sits among the pieces of broken glass and photographs
reluctantly releases the Last of what was her Past"-Garth Brooks
"Why do you need this again?" I asked as I rummaged through the top shelf in the closet barely able to see what was on it.
"I told you great- grandma it's for photo class, the older the camera is the more unique the pictures are."
"Ahh well here it is" I pulled the camera down by the string attached to the case scattering a few pieces of paper to the ground with it. As I stepped off the stool slowly I opened the case.
"What are these?" My granddaughters voice interrupted my inspection of the camera.
"Well let me see." I gently took the paper form her hand as I put on my glasses to examine the photos.
"Well great- grandma?" The young girls tone rung with impatience as she waited.
"Why these are pictures of me," I said flipping through them. "I thought I would be famous when I got older, boy did I have dreams"
I stopped and smiled for a minute "dreams" I said a little softer before snapping from my trance to finish looking at the pictures I held. "You know you look a lot like me"
My happy voice and blissful smile grew to a lighter expression when I reached the last picture. It was a picture of more then just myself dancing for the camera.
It held five kids. Farthest to the left stood a boy who had a wide smile and wore a cowboy hat with a bandanna around his neck. Next to him stood a short Italian girl with dark brown hair and a mischievous look about her face.
To the far right stood a girl whose brown hair hung around her shoulders and a sly grin on her face. Beside her was a blonde boy; with a walking stick that hung in a loop on his pants and a sling shot in his left hand.
Right in the middle is where I stood. I brushed across the image in remembrance. My arms where draped around the Italian girl on one side and the blonde boy on the other. The wind must have picked up as the picture was snapped because the breeze blew my then dirty blonde hair under my chin so you were still able to a smile and my eyes. Eyes that held a dark past but still twinkled with all the hope I had.
"Great-grandma, what's wrong?" My granddaughter asked glancing at the picture my hands still held. "Who are they?"
I walked slowly to the living room where I found comfort residing in a chair, while my granddaughter sat across form me on the couch.
Looking at her great grandmother the girl could see the wisdom she possessed. Then she could feel the lack of it in herself. She always had known that her grandma was wiser then her, but it wasn't till now that she had given it a second thought.
" Great-grandma, who are they?" she asked again no patience left in her voice.
I turned my eyes from the daze they held on the photo to the young girl sitting across from me. She was still so young, yet older then I was in the picture I now held to my heart.
"They" I started "they were the best friends I've ever had."
We all grow older; it's an inevitable thing. Kind of like when the sun rises, no matter how hard you wish and hope and will it to stay in the sky, it has to set. If it did not set then we would never be able to see the stars, and if we did not grow older we would never really be able to live.
For me getting older was an adventure. People say that an adventure isn't just living it's a journey, but to me they are wrong, to me my whole life was an adventure. Starting from that day I meet the four people who would change it forever. Of course I didn't know it then that my life was changing. I only knew that my life had went from bad to worse.
Growing up in New York is tough, growing up in New York as a street rat is tougher, but growing up in New York as a street rat with friends is an adventure. And so this is where my story begins.
Some say that when you grow older you forget things, where you come from, who you are and people you once new. For me this was almost true, until I was reminded. Photographs are worth a thousand words, but mine; well mine are worth a million more.
Chapter One:
" She sits among the pieces of broken glass and photographs
reluctantly releases the Last of what was her Past"-Garth Brooks
"Why do you need this again?" I asked as I rummaged through the top shelf in the closet barely able to see what was on it.
"I told you great- grandma it's for photo class, the older the camera is the more unique the pictures are."
"Ahh well here it is" I pulled the camera down by the string attached to the case scattering a few pieces of paper to the ground with it. As I stepped off the stool slowly I opened the case.
"What are these?" My granddaughters voice interrupted my inspection of the camera.
"Well let me see." I gently took the paper form her hand as I put on my glasses to examine the photos.
"Well great- grandma?" The young girls tone rung with impatience as she waited.
"Why these are pictures of me," I said flipping through them. "I thought I would be famous when I got older, boy did I have dreams"
I stopped and smiled for a minute "dreams" I said a little softer before snapping from my trance to finish looking at the pictures I held. "You know you look a lot like me"
My happy voice and blissful smile grew to a lighter expression when I reached the last picture. It was a picture of more then just myself dancing for the camera.
It held five kids. Farthest to the left stood a boy who had a wide smile and wore a cowboy hat with a bandanna around his neck. Next to him stood a short Italian girl with dark brown hair and a mischievous look about her face.
To the far right stood a girl whose brown hair hung around her shoulders and a sly grin on her face. Beside her was a blonde boy; with a walking stick that hung in a loop on his pants and a sling shot in his left hand.
Right in the middle is where I stood. I brushed across the image in remembrance. My arms where draped around the Italian girl on one side and the blonde boy on the other. The wind must have picked up as the picture was snapped because the breeze blew my then dirty blonde hair under my chin so you were still able to a smile and my eyes. Eyes that held a dark past but still twinkled with all the hope I had.
"Great-grandma, what's wrong?" My granddaughter asked glancing at the picture my hands still held. "Who are they?"
I walked slowly to the living room where I found comfort residing in a chair, while my granddaughter sat across form me on the couch.
Looking at her great grandmother the girl could see the wisdom she possessed. Then she could feel the lack of it in herself. She always had known that her grandma was wiser then her, but it wasn't till now that she had given it a second thought.
" Great-grandma, who are they?" she asked again no patience left in her voice.
I turned my eyes from the daze they held on the photo to the young girl sitting across from me. She was still so young, yet older then I was in the picture I now held to my heart.
"They" I started "they were the best friends I've ever had."