Daily Prompt: Sweet Sixteen

~ Twindaddy

When you were 16, what did you think your life would look like? Does it look like that? Is that a good thing?

When I was 16 I had no idea what my life would eventually look like.  I didn’t have time to ponder it and, quite honestly, didn’t care.  I was as concerned about the future as the 1% is about the poor.

My mother, my stepfather, and I were living in a decrepit, roach-infested two-bedroom mobile home in a ramshackle trailer park in Sugar Hill, Georgia.  I hated my school and hated my life.  I had just been torn (again) from friends, and my brothers, and was living with a stepfather I couldn’t stand, in a domicile that should have been condemned.

Something like this, but surrounded by many more that looked much the same.

My mother worked.  My stepfather didn’t.  He paid the rent by shoplifting high-ticket items from one Wal-Mart and returning them to another for the cash.  If you ever wonder why you’re only ever able to get a gift card when returning something without a receipt, that would be why.  I often went with him on these trips.  I encouraged him with the hope that he would be apprehended and I would no longer have to deal with him.  Sadly, that never came to pass.

We were horribly destitute.  My mom’s check went to the car payment and utility bills.  We seldom had food in the house.  Were it not for my best friend’s parents feeding me, I probably would have starved.  We were only able to do laundry once every two weeks so I often had to wear my clothes twice before washing them.

So, I as  you can see, dearest reader, when I was 16, I certainly didn’t think about the future.  I had no reason to think about the future.  All I could think about was skipping school, if I would have food for dinner, or thinking of new ways to convince my father to let me move back to his house.  Life was that incredibly depressing.  It’s hard to ponder the future when your present sucks.

Outtakes

  • Ate a small bag of barbecue chips and got barbecue all over my keyboard.  Greasy keys!!
  • Had a poll amongst my coworkers to see who would handle cigarette smoking duties since my boss called in sick.
  • Argued with a coworker about who didn’t give a bigger fuck.  I won.  The fuck I don’t give is leviathan.  So there.

 

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Published by Twindaddy

Sometimes funny. Sometimes serious. Always genuine.

54 thoughts on “Daily Prompt: Sweet Sixteen”

  3. I’m crying for you at 16. Noone should have to go through that. You are proof that people can still turn out decent no matter what.

    At 16 I was hoping to apprehend people like your POS stepdad when I became a cop.

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    1. I was hoping you would, too. But I guess that’s how things turn out when your mother’s a drug addict and a hooker who’s in and out of jail. I kinda feel sorry for him, but I don’t really. He used my mother and turned out to be gay, so there’s no way that he ever loved her. At least, not romantically. He ran away as soon as his secret was out so I never had a chance to confront him about the way he did my mom.

      Asshole.

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          9. Thanks for asking! (No one asks…) I have 62 more hours of this job in HCMC, but who’s counting. (I am. I’M counting!) After 6 days of pit stops in KL and Hong Kong, I’ll be landing in the US on February 6th for my month-long whirlwind vacation of breakfast tacos in Austin and snowboarding in Telluride. After that… I still don’t know! My 1-way flight to Telluride is the last thing I have booked. I’m open to suggestions. (And your assumptions about my being fancy-free and unburdened by responsibilities was 100% correct.) – Ever On The Fence In Saigon

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          13. But I don’t live there anymore! LOL. Maybe I could go back to Cbus and visit my old apartment? (“Hey, don’t mind me. I used to live here, it’s ok.”) Or maybe I can pop in on some old coworkers and be like, “Hey, remember that time I sung the Whitney Houston song at the company Christmas party and like, 45 days later she died? Haha.”

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          15. It was – erm, a “coincidence”. After that, people were like “Hey Su, here’s a mic, do you know any Justin Bieber songs?” Yeah. I wanna go back and visit THOSE people. (“Leave Justin ALONE!” [*sobbing])

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  7. Wow. That is indeed a terrible childhood. But you are right – things could always be worse. Glad things are better for you now!

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  8. My dreams and desires did not mention my past as I never mention that in any of my posts…that was then… I live in the now and my future…I can relate to your past and thank you for being candid and having the balls for sharing. Even though my hubby says that I have a set that are hidden somewhere that are made of steel I do not have strong enough ones to tread back to those days and publish them publicly…. lol…

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    1. Well, there’s no use hiding from the past. I don’t dwell on it or live in it, but I’m not ashamed of it either. It made me who I am today.

      Maybe one day you’ll feel comfortable enough to share.

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      1. My daughters have no idea and there is no sense at this point in time in my drudging it up lol…They have grown up well adjusted without any information and some things in life are just better left unsaid…

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  11. Wow. What a rough time you had, TwinDaddy. You’re going to have to tell us all how you got out of that life and became the stormtrooper we all know and love. Because writing is therapy, you know.

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      1. But you’re out of that one and working on a better one. And you know what they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Of course, that is always said by people who have had no problems in life.

        Still, this might be the book you should write — fictionalized to protect the guilty. You should think about that. It’s the American dream.

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          1. Going from a difficult background to be a techie, a writer and a blogger? It’s the American dream.

            Seriously. You would want to fictionalize it, but you have the outline. Just if you do fictionalize it, admit it before you have to go on Oprah!

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