My first day at my new school, I put on my favorite light up shoes, my white and pink panther shirt with my light denim bell bottoms...

… I mean in my head I was dressed to the nines 😂.

I can recall one of the popular boys at school asked me what kind of shoes I had on…

And the question dumbfounded me…

…because my shoes didn’t have a name…

…I wasn’t really into fashion then…

…I wore what I liked.

Meanwhile, my peers were coming to school with the new Allen Iversons and Air Jordans.

At that point, I didn’t even know what Jordans and Iversons were.

The only name brand shoes I knew were Nike and Skeechers.

Anything more than that… I was clueless.

I can recall the girls in class whispering about my shoes, clothing, and my hair and making jokes.

While all the other girls at school were already getting silk presses, I was still into beads and barrettes.

And often times, my braids would be outgrown and old looking because I had to make that hairstyle last until my mom could afford to get it done again.

Whenever the whispering would happen, I would remain silent and ignore it because I didn’t know how to respond.

And sometimes I would fold my arms on the desk and place my face in the bend of my elbow and silently cry.

Unlike the other kids, I didn’t spend my days figuring out the new shoes that would drop over the weekend or spend hours styling my hair.

Like I said, I was not into beauty and fashion just yet.

My only focus was to go outside and play all day with my friends in the neighborhood...

... climb trees

...jump on my friend's trampoline

...walk to the nearest corner store

...and exchange my colored money (food stamps) for packages of kool-aid so that I could later mix the dry kool-aid powder with sugar and eat it from a sandwich bag.

Looking back at it, I understand that I was raised up in a more conservative environment in comparison to most of my peers.

I would be what we consider as a late bloomer.

And honestly, I thank God I was raised that way.

Eventually, my mom got a better job, started earning more money, and I was able to get better clothes.

The bullying stopped and school got easier.

I would graduate high school and go off to CMU.

I ended up dropping out in my third year of college.

As the classes got tougher and adulthood kicked in…

…along came bills and general life expenses.