My First Best Friend I Ever Had

I did have a best friend. Her name was Shamara. I met her in the Rockwell Gardens (public housing complex). She was a friend that if I have a problem she was the one that I could come to. We hung out every day 24/7, and we would go out to party, club and out to dinner sometime. But when the state knocked down the building we started hanging out in her grandmother’s house. Her grandma was always asking her about me and my daughter, like if I’m all right or if I’m doing well. But when her grandma passed away, I couldn’t go to her funeral because I don’t do funerals; they make me have nightmares. But Shamara told her for me ever if she couldn’t hear her she knows that we care about her always.

I did not see Shamara ever since the state knocked down her grandma’s house, which was also part of Rockwell Gardens. She was staying on Chicago (Ave.) with her friends and I was on Kilpatrick (Ave.). I had started school, so we didn’t see each other very often.

Her friends always said that Shamara was looking for me, but I would never see her. I saw one of her friends that said she is staying with Shamara and I told the friend to give her my phone number and tell her to call me and she did. We met at the store two blocks from her house. We talked about what she was doing. She said she was going to school at Malcolm X to get her GED. We planned to get together the following weekend, and that was the last time I saw her alive.

The other day I saw her mother. She said, “You know my daughter got killed December first of 2013, two weeks before her birthday.” She said that Shamara was going with this boy that she knew on Chicago Ave, and she said some boys were out to kill him and he was her baby’s father. And that night she was walking with her boyfriend and he saw the boys and they saw him and they started to shoot him. He got shot in his leg and then he pulled Shamara in front of him and she got shot in the back. She was five months pregnant.

A lot of people came to her funeral, because she was a good person and she made her friend’s feel good about themselves. I wasn’t able to go to her funeral because I did not hear about it until I saw her mother two weeks ago.

Brenda

Wonderful Christmas Day with my Family

On Christmas day, I woke my daughter Latange up and watched her open her gifts. She had received nine baby dolls, some clothes, P.Js, and much more. We played all day listening to Christmas music, playing games, and watching Christmas movies. I watched to see how she felt about what she got for Christmas. I had to save money to get her presents, and it was not easy. It was difficult because I had to pay the phone bill and also needed to save money to move to a new place. But I did it and that made me feel happy. I felt good about myself because she knows that I care about her.

About 2pm, I went to my Auntie’s house and helped cook Christmas dinner for the rest of my family. I cooked some greens, ham, dressing, sweet potatoes and much more…  We talked about the old days when we lived in the old Rockwell Gardens building and we all had fun. It made me happy that all my family was here with me and cared about me. I will never forget this Christmas!

Brenda