Baby Me and Grandpa

This is a picture of me with my grandfather. I was young. I spent the first nine years of my life living with my grandparents while my parents were… well… unavailable, whatever that means. It was a great time for me. I had two doting guardians whose world revolved around me. That was a good thing. Unfortunately, as you can see, I was born into poverty. That’s a bad thing. Fortunately, like most children, it had no serious impact upon me until puberty, when the process of socialization makes us all acutely aware of our social status. Why is this picture one of my favorites? It’s a reminder of two people who gave me a wonderful childhood and that they did so under some trying circumstances.