Continuing Madness...

   I mean memories, not madness. ;) Just so you know, I'm not going to write all my memories down right now, as that would lead to a long book full of (to you) meaningless jumbo and jargon...
   So when I last left off we were living in Michigan. Not soon after my father's surprise visit we moved to Northlake, IL and lived with my grandparents. Sometime while we lived in Michigan, however, the three of us kids went down to GA for a few weeks during the summer and spent time with my father and my brother. I don't remember too much from those few weeks. I remember getting in trouble for someone stealing the sodas from the fridge. My father had a girlfriend who singled me out because I was practically a mute growing up. She said it was me who took the sodas, when it was my oldest brother. I was forced into a timeout on the couch, facing the wall sitting on my hands. My father and his girlfriend left and I had to pee so my sister and brother kept look out while I got up and went to the bathroom, and then proceeded to run around the house in circles (keep in mind, I was still only 7 or 8) and then my sister called out that they were coming back and I promptly plopped down on the couch and the never knew a thing. Another embarrassing story (embarrassing for me anyway) was I was using the bathroom in my father's room, that you have to go through the bedroom to get to the bathroom and while I was in there, my father entered his bedroom, on the phone, and shut his door. I don't remember what he was talking about or who he was talking to but I was so scared to leave the bathroom I sat by the bathroom door until I eventually gathered the courage to leave the room.
   Now moving onto living in Northlake.. This is where I feel really bad because I had some bad habits living there. I was still rather young, and my sister and I would go to the park frequently when we weren't in school as it was just a few block around the corner. Before we would go we would sneak into my grandfather's room and take some change from his piggy bank. We would take the stolen money and go to the corner store and buy various candies and drinks. Looking back it's incredibly stupid and sad that we did that. I remember having to walk to the school, and crying on my first day. My grandparents had a black Labrador when we were there named Penny. She was such a big, loving dog. Looking back I didn't like the smell of her or the fact that she slobbered or her shedding all over the place, but she was a loving dog. We lived in the basement of my grandparents house, it was the three kids on mattresses on the floor and my mom on the futon. We had everything we needed downstairs, with the exception of the bathroom and kitchen. My life in that basement was full of listening to pop music, playing with my barbie dolls, and hanging out with my sister.  Unfortunately, I don't remember a ton from this part of my life, which is strange because I feel like it was the least stressful and the least emotionally crazy.
   TO BE CONTINUED...