Born in the late 60's to a fifteen-year-old mother and an absent father, I was taken in at the age of nine months by my great grandparents. They adopted me when I was two.
I was precocious as a child and I'm sure my grandmother would add, quite loquacious. My grandmother took advantage of my inherent ability to learn and my inexorable desire to talk. She sat me down at the age of two, switch in hand, and began to teach me the story of the creation as revealed in Geneses 1-3. Once I had it committed to memory, my grandmother taught me to recite it with passion. She then took me from church to church, put a microphone in my hand and made me recite it before the congregation.
My grandmother said she was being obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in teaching me the Bible, thank God she did.
My grandfather was the one who taught me how to be a man. Born in 1909, he had to stop schooling in the second grade to help his parents who sharecropped. Because of this he stressed education and achievement. Though he passed away at the age of 83 in 1992, he is still very much with me. My grandmother passed recently, in March 2010 at the age of 92.
I am a proud father of seven ranging in age from 2 to 31. I consider each one a blessing from God. You will be introduced to each one individually through my writings. My children are a constant reminder of how much God loves me.
Thanks to my grandparents, I had a wonderful childhood. I was given an immense appreciation for scholarship and carried the natural gift of athleticism. Throughout school, I put both to use.
I have been blessed both in athletic achievement and in the attainment of academic knowledge. Both have contributed to my advancement in life.
I feel it necessary to give honorable mention to four people who had an enormous impact on my life. Ms. Geraldine François, my 4th-6th grade teacher. Ms. François was an accelerated learning teacher who saw something special in me and refused to accept anything less than my best. This included my handwriting. She said no one would ever discern the depth of my intelligence if they were not able to decipher my handwriting. To this day, my handwriting is identical to hers and most women find it humorously unbefitting a man.
Mr. Brewer was my seventh grade history teacher. He instilled the intrinsic value of self-discipline. Mr. Brewer was a former college instructor who discovered that man...
