It all started with a phone call. Ring! Ring! Ring! I answered. “Hi,” said this strange, soft, kind voice. “Is this Destiny?”

“Yes,” I responded. Who is this?”

“Hi, Destiny, my name is Sequoia and I’m going to be your stepmother.”

I at the age of eight screamed at her, “I don’t need another mom!” I always believed my dad and mom would work it out.

“Des, I’m sorry and I know you don’t know me, but I would never

do anything to harm you.”

“Where’s my dad? I want to talk to him, I’ll change his mind.”

 “Destiny, sweetheart, your dad is away right now. He won’t be home until next year.”

“Oh? What? Where is he?” I asked, hearing her voice tremble.

She lowly responded and said, “Sweetheart, your daddy isn’t a bad guy, but he is in a place where bad people go. Okay? Everything will be okay. It was just a misunderstanding.”

“My dad is in jail? And I’m going to have a stepmom? What’s next?”

…

A blessing, my protector, my provider, my mother. She took such good care of my siblings and me. And she sacrificed everything for us. We have everything we need in life and were taught so much. She’s there for us when we need her, even at our worst. But I witnessed my mom crying a lot. We had a type of mother–daughter relationship like no other. We would talk about things in her life and what she was going through. Things at the time, I just didn’t understand, but she knew I would listen.