HELLO! I WANT TO INTRODUCE MYSELF. MY NAME IS IMOGEN.

Hi! My name is Imogen. I am a 46-year-old mother of four and a widow. I have been thinking of this for a while and decided I want to share my story and learn to accept that I cannot change it and it also made me the person I am.

I was born in the summer of 1978 to a 17-year-old who was married to my 21-year-old father. We lived in South East Chicago. I can't remember where my mom said we lived at the time, but I know that. My mother decided that by the time she was 18, she didn't want to be married anymore, so she divorced my father. Divorced at 18 with a one-year-old, she started working, and I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and my tia (aunt). Sometimes my father's family watched me, and I knew them for a brief moment. I honestly do not remember them much. My father rarely saw me but he did pay my mom child support.

My mom liked to go out and party at night, so I spent a lot of time with my grandma and Tia—so much time that I started calling my 13-year-old Tia mom. As time went on, my third birthday was approaching, and that's when my life started changing. We had all our family get-togethers and birthdays at Cal Park, and this is where my third birthday party was being held. My aunts and uncles were there with my cousins and we were all running around having a great time. When one of my uncles showed up with a friend.

He introduced this friend to my mom and I guess they hit it off. Not long after they started dating, he moved in, and she was pregnant and married. My mom worked, but now, instead of spending a lot of my time at my grandma's house, he started watching me. This is when my hell began.