Middle Passage: Stories of Survival

Meeting the Challenge: Unplanned Single Parenthood

By Gregory Bearstop as it was told by Latasha Alston

“Get out!  Go,” my mother yelled, as a blazing fire swept through our house within minutes.  My 5-year-old brother was playing under his bed with a grill lighter when he set his mattress on fire.  At 19-years-old, having been uprooted before and gazing at the smoldering skeletal remains of our home, I thought to myself, here we go again. 

Earlier in my life, when I was 9-years-old, my mother worked three jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs.  My father was hardly around. When mom was at work, I took care of the household:  bathing and feeding my two younger sisters who were then ages 4 and 7 (my brother wasn’t born yet).  A few years later, my mother broke her ankle and had to stop working.  As a result, we were evicted from our apartment and became homeless. Eventually, my sisters and I were separated.   We went to live with various family members in the Washington metropolitan area.  Living the hardship we suffered without the support of our father, I knew as a youngster that I always wanted to be independent.  This experience also contributed to my growing mistrust of men.

My thoughts on men began to change when my cousin, wanting to see me with a more vibrant social life, invited me to a party.  There, he introduced me to his best friend, Lawrence.  My initial impression was that he looked like a thug.  But, as I got to know him over a few months, he turned out to be a decent guy. We dated and I became pregnant with our daughter.  When she was born on August 24, 2001, I discovered true love for the first time.  Having my daughter in my life is like having sunshine every day. 

In the years to follow, Lawrence and I bought a house together.  My nephew, then 5-years-old, came to live with us, and I loved him as my own son.  Life couldn’t have been better.

One morning in 2006, I lied asleep in bed and my daughter’s father arose to head off to work, as was his routine.  About an hour later, I abruptly awakened feeling a chill run through my body.  I passed it off as an aftershock of a nightmare from which I had awakened, and I got up to go to work. 
While at work, I received a call from my sister who said that she had recognized Lawrence’s car on the morning news.  Then, a State Highway Patrol Officer returned one of my calls to inform me that Lawrence had been killed in a tragic car accident.  He had fallen asleep at the wheel and drove under a tractor trailer.  I later realized that the accident occurred at the exact moment I had been jolted awake that morning. It has been six years since Lawrence’s death and I miss him every day. 

Your Comment?