It's strange how giving a little more money to a political campaign can bring out such sentimental thoughts, but it did. I just donated my last of the election and was provided an outlet to tell my story of why I became involved in Obama's campaign and this is what came out:
I have long thought that my story set me apart and somehow kept me from experiencing the "normal life." I was raised by a single mom and didn't know my dad until I was 26. As the youngest of three, I was an only child after my brother and sister moved out. In some ways, they were lucky to leave before my mom's alcoholism began to consume her. I took a trip to Australia after graduating high school. When I returned, my mom told me the news that she had moved from the our home of 11 years and was now living in a one bedroom apartment. If ever I was growing up faster than my peers, it was then. Four years ago, I lost my mom. She spent the last two years of her life bumming her way down the Eastern seaboard. From Virginia to Florida, she was incommunicado and relying on homeless shelters and the kindness of strangers. When she returned we were able to get her into city housing and on SSI due to debilitating mental illness gradually made worse through years of denial on her parents part and decades of alcohol and drug abuse. On Tuesday November 2, 2004 we lost her to liver failure. The same day, I watched as John Kerry failed to beat Bush. Since February, I have volunteered for this campaign because I believe in our candidate. I know he will change the direction in which this country is going and help improve the lives of many people like my mom that are caught up in circumstances beyond their control in a society that is rigged against them. I am truly inspired by his story and his presence and am convinced that if my fellow momma's boy can do so much starting out from so little I can as well.
