by Breonna Jameson
I was born December 24, 1991 to Tyria Easterwood and Brian Jameson. I had a good life. My parents made sure that I had a good life and that I didn’t miss anything. I played basketball, soccer, was cheerleader, and did gymnastics. They made sure that I got into everything so I could never say I haven’t tried that. Growing up I was a daddy’s girl. I loved my daddy and loved being around him. My parents loved me as much as I loved them. My parent’s relationship was good from what I saw I didn’t know too much about all of that back then. She made his lunch every day for work. Made sure that his clothes were ironed and that he had a great breakfast in the morning. I think that she was the best wife to him.
One day everything changed. This lady called our house and asking for my dad and my mother flipped out being a woman in that situation. I remember she asked him about it and he said “I don’t know what you are talking about”. My mama was not stupid was knew what was going on and was not going to let him get away with it either. She kept asking him about it over and over and then all of a sudden I guess he was mad and he hit her. My ma was appalled that he just hit her. I was shocked and I didn’t not know what was going to happen next. I saw him hit my mother for the first time and all I could do was cry. She was mad and upset. My dad’s face did not have any actions on it at all. Everybody calmed down after a while. I was thinking that all of this will be over and we will get back to normal in a few days but I was wrong. A different situation came up, he was not coming home at night and telling my mother lies. She knew that’s what they were because she was crazy and knew she was going to get to the bottom of the situation. My dad had this thing for hitting my ma and I didn’t like it but I never said anything because I was scared that he was going to hit me even though I am his daughter. All I could do was sit back and cry. Whenever my mom ever came to him with anything he always had the reflex of hitting her. Every time he hit her he always did it in front of me. I saw everything from his mean looks to her crying on the floor. He was so abusive he did everything. Sometimes I felt like he was trying to kill her. He would pull her hair out, kick her, black her eye all the time. This hurt me so much that my mom was crying and in pain. Every time he hit her he always did it on front of me and I didn’t like it at all.
My mom tried to hide this from her family but she couldn’t they needed to know what was going on. One day my ma called my granny on the phone and told her that my dad has been hitting her and he had been doing it for a while. My granny was so upset he didn’t know what to do. She wanted to hurt him herself for messing with her daughter. My granny told my ma that “it was time to leave and that we could stay with her until my ma could get back on her feet.”My granny also told me that “I should have went to somebody and told what was going on”. I was happy my granny came to rescue us from all of this. I felt like I didn’t have to go through this anymore. My ma was strong. She got our things and we left and moved in with my granny. Every night I was scared and I had nightmares about him hitting my ma over and over again and would wake up crying. My ma didn’t know I felt this way until I got older. We were looking through the newspaper one day and found out that he had married the other woman while my parents were still together in Illinois. My ma was not mad she was hurt that he did her like this but she always said “what goes around comes back around”. My ma got a divorce from him in 1998 and we moved on with our life.
We moved into a small one bedroom apartment in South city and stayed there until we could get a bigger one. She made it comfortable and cozy for the both of us. I didn’t go without anything in life. She made sure that I had a meal on my table everyday and that I had clothes on back. God made a way for the both of us. I was still active in sports and I still didn’t miss out on having my father because my uncle Steve, My aunts husband and my Uncle Andrew, my dad’s brother made sure I didn’t miss out on anything. They were there all the time all I had to do was call and I saw I needed something. After God had blessed us this far he decided that we could move into a bigger apartment. We were both excited about what was going on. I felt like my ma was a very strong woman. God had a plan for all we had to do was stay focused and be patient. Everything was falling into place and we were both excited and happy. My dad was missing from my life for about 2 or 3 years and I was upset because I didn’t have a daddy but I had an uncle daddy though and he was the best!!!!! Being a single mom, my mother didn’t miss out on anything. We traveled with our church and also went on trips by ourselves. One summer my ma took me to Disney world and I had so much fun my other cousins went also. The summer when I was going to the fourth grade he came back but not to stay he just wanted to see me, I guess. We talked but I really didn’t know what to say because I was young. I saw this stuff on movies but didn’t have an idea of what to say. He told me how much he loves me and how he was so sorry about what happened between my ma and him but I was thinking to myself I don’t quite understand what you are trying to say I was only like 9.
After that my dad and I had built a small relationship but I still could not trust him at all because when I was younger he lied so many times to me about crazy stuff. He would tell me that he was coming to see me and I would wait up all day Saturday just to see him and he never would come. That hurt me so bad when I was younger because I felt like he didn’t like me anymore or something. I could not trust him anymore after this. He started coming around after all but at that time I felt like I didn’t want him to be. My ma would tell me “ Bre’e that is still your daddy and you still have to respect him even though he did wrong” My ma still never talked bad about him , she never wanted me to hate him because that was still my dad. So I decided that I would give him a chance this time and see what will happen. He would come and see me often and take me to get something to eat and we would go and have fun sometimes. I was nervous at first because I was never use to being with him alone. I had faith in him and at this point he never let me down. Our relationship grew and grew. My dad was coming around often and I liked that a lot.
My dad had problems that he was dealing with and he asked my ma to help him. She helped him being the Christian woman that she is. He was not close with his parents or siblings anymore. They didn’t know where he was stayin’ or anything. She found out that he was not happy with his wife and he wanted to change. He was livin’ in a motel in Pontoon beach, IL and we both felt sorry for him. He didn’t have a car so he would catch the metro link and cab to work every day. My ma helped him find a better job in Saint Louis to get him back on his feet. He still didn’t have a car so my ma volunteered to pick him up from work and drop him off downtown at the metro link station to save money. He was so grateful for this. We saw the he still was not doing so well so my offered to let him stay in our extra bedroom in the house sometimes when he got off late and had to be at work early in the morning. My lil cousin had a lead role in a play at church so my ma thought it would be a good idea for him come and see his family and it was the Saturday before Mothers day. He was thrilled about it and could not wait. On our way to the church he decided to stop by the flower shop and get his mother a red rose. As were pulling up to the church I had butterflies in my stomach and was a lil nervous about what was about to happen. We walked in the church and all of our family was there. My ma and I walked in first and everybody was expecting to see us buy when my dad came behind us everybody was shocked and his mother started to cry because she had not seen him in a long time. She was so excited.
Every since that day my day has been around and has around his family also. My parents are not together they are just friends. My ma always says ‘what goes around comes back around”, he did her wrong and God did not like that so in return his life was not so perfect he had some challenges that he had to overcome. He is still not living right but he will learn hopefully not to late again. I still see my dad not every day or weekend but occasionally now that I am older. We have an okay relationship it could be better but we are on two different pages but we are still catching up on some things. Is still love and always will he is my daddy. My ma has shown me a lot about being a strong black woman. Sometimes you have to do things by yourself and you will get credit for it later. We are making it on our own. She has always told me “You don’t need a man for everything sometimes you have to do it on your own.” She has shown me that it’s okay to be independent. “God is the only man you need”
