It is where some of my earliest trauma began, where I became a mother, where I raised my children, and where I spent much of my life surviving situations I did not yet have the words, support, or safety to fully understand.

This page may hold stories about childhood abuse, domestic violence, alcohol abuse and recovery, racism, motherhood, job loss, workplace discrimination, COVID, medical dismissal, harmful labels, housing instability, slumlords, custody abuse, and a court system that did not always protect the people who needed protection.

But this is not a list of everything that went wrong with my life.

It is a place for me to finally tell the whole story in my own words. The painful parts, the complicated parts, the things that still make me angry, the memories I am only beginning to understand, and the moments that somehow gave me enough strength to keep going.

For years, I adapted to whatever was happening around me. I masked, survived, numbed myself, kept moving, and became whoever I needed to be in that moment. Looking back through the lens of late-diagnosed AuDHD and C-PTSD has helped me recognize how often my responses to trauma were judged while the trauma itself was ignored.

Detroit was the setting for much of what I survived, but Detroit is not the villain in my story. It was also home. It holds my family, my memories, my roots, my resilience, and the person I had to become before I finally had the space to discover who I actually am.

Some entries may tell an entire story. Others may hold one memory, one question, one injustice, or something I finally feel ready to say out loud. I may write about what happened, investigate why the systems involved failed, or simply give myself permission to admit how something affected me.

Not every story will end with a lesson. Not every wound will be wrapped in a positive message. Sometimes telling the truth is enough.

This is where I get to remember, question, process, connect the pieces, and take ownership of a story that other people and systems spent years trying to define for me.

This is where I tell it myself.