Book excerpt: Graduated High School in 1971, three months pregnant. I left my mother's house with my Fiancé. The only thing I took with me were the clothes on my back, the things I read in books, the things my Grandmother taught me which mainly involved cooking and cleaning, the Bible quotes and old folks tales my Grandmother used to say over and over, the few things my mother taught me during her brief and few periods of time into my life, and also a very special gift from God, which was the ability to play any musical instrument I chose to play. I thought I was grown and knew everything. What I didn't know was although I was very smart, I was also very naive. I got married in 1972 and had another baby in 1974. I worked for a police department from 1977 to 1985. I was in the Army National Guard from 1979 to 1985. So many unbelievable things happened to me during that time, both good and bad. So many more bad things happened than good that I started to think my life was cursed for some reason. It started to happen so much that finally I did not want to live any longer.