The earliest memory I have of going on vacation with my family was when I was five years old and it was in the summer and I was on summer vacation and I went with my grandparents house in Bardstown, Kentucky for about 2 weeks then we went down to Tennessee to visit my cousins they are both the same age as me and we always have fun hanging out with each other, they are really funny by the way they act and talk because they have that Southern accent. Their names are Aidan and Kaehler. My grandparents and I go down there every summer for both of their birthdays since they are twins. I always have good memories with them and their parents. Both of my cousins are really active and like to play sports. We all like to play basketball together. They are really good at playing basketball and every time I’m down there we always play for at least 2 to 3 hours a day of just shooting around or playing against each other. Aidan and Kaehler have really nice birthday parties. We always do a pool party down at their nearby pool and rent it out for the day and we just spend the day there having fun. When it gets later in the day we light the candles on the cake and eat the cake and we give them their birthday presents. I usually went down there for about 4 days. But when I was 5 that’s when I started going down there and I remember we were all a little shy to talk to but once we were around each other for a little bit we were fine and had fun playing outside chasing each other. I was really shy around their parents because I didn't know them and I really didn’t talk to them about anything, even though I usually stayed with them and my cousins. We played football in the front yard a lot. We were really young so we didn’t play tackle or anything we just passed around and it felt like forever. I never wanted to go back to Kentucky because I only got to see them once a year and I really never got to play with anyone else back in Kentucky because I was there for a total of three weeks and we usually went to Tennessee the day after I got to Kentucky. My grandparents usually pick me up from my house at the start of July every summer to go down to Tennessee to celebrate my cousin's birthday and to see them and spend time with them. After spending the day at the pool my grandparents and I would go back to our hotel room that we bought and the next day we would leave and head back to Kentucky. During the time back in Kentucky my grandparents and I would usually go play golf or go out to eat for lunch or dinner and I would always have a good time with them. My grandparents took me back to Ohio to my house 3 days after we had got back from Tennessee because they were going on their anniversary vacation to Mexico.

Around the same time the next year when I was almost six my grandpa picked me up from my house. We stopped for some lunch at Wendy’s and we sat down there and ate and talked about how first grade was going and if I was doing good and class and not being impolite towards the teacher or any of my classmates. I told him I wasn’t having any problems in school with class and my behavior, after we sat down and talked about some things that I was doing while I hadn’t seen my grandparents we left and hit the road to Kentucky. When we got there I didn’t unpack because I knew we were leaving the next day to go down to Tennessee, and it was almost dinner time so my grandparents took me out for dinner and we went to an Italian restaurant and it was so good. When we got back to my grandparents house I went to sleep because I knew we had a long day ahead of us and a five and a half hour drive to Tennessee. The next day I ate breakfast and got the car loaded with our luggage and we were on the road. I used to like to play car games with my grandparents. I always asked them to see who can get every letter in the alphabet in a word outside of the car on billboard signs. I slept for half of the time because I wanted to waste the time. The time that I was up it felt like I had been waiting forever to get there, but once we got their to my cousins house we said hello to them and I just stayed with my cousin’s and later that day my grandparents, aunts and uncles and all my cousins went out to dinner together and we had a really good time. After we got done eating I went back with my cousins to their house and we watched movies and then went to bed. The next day was their birthdays and we went to the pool early in the morning. No one was there because the birthday party didn’t start until later and we just swam around all day and when everyone showed up we started to light the candles on the cake and we sang happy birthday to them and we ate cake after. I went back with my grandparents that night to the hotel and I went to bed when I got back because I had been swimming all day. The next day we left to go back to Kentucky but before we left we went to go say bye to my cousins and my aunt and uncle. We got back about midday and we were all exhausted from all the driving, and waiting to get back home. My grandparents didn’t want to cook because they were exhausted so we went out to a fast food restaurant and went back home. We ended up watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy because my grandparents love to watch those game shows and after that my grandparents went to bed and I stayed up for a little while and watched the movie Marmaduke. I used to watch that movie all the time because I thought animals talking in a movie was hilarious. For 2 days in a row me and my grandparents went to watch a movie at the movie theater and it was a fun time because afterwards we would go to Dairy Queen. Later that night my grandparents stayed home and made dinner that night and they made hot dogs and mac and cheese for me and we watched game shows. The next day they took me back to Ohio back to my dads house. 

The next summer I was almost seven and my grandparents got me late and it was around mid-late July and when they got me they were going to take me to Culver’s to go get something to eat, so we did that and it was so good but after we were done we went through the rest of Cincinnati to get to Kentucky and the traffic was bad we didn’t move for 30 minutes because there was a big crash but eventually we got through the traffic and then we good enough the rest of the way and didn’t have to stop anymore. When we got there I unpacked and then went back upstairs and my grandma said she felt really sick. So we just stayed home that night and ate pork chops, baked potatoes and wild rice, but my grandma had chicken noodle soup. The next day we were supposed to go down to Tennessee but we didn’t because my grandma felt even worse the next day. My grandpa and I were in the basement all day just watching football and left my grandma alone upstairs. My grandpa took me to go to a restaurant that was in their city and it was an Italian restaurant and I got pasta and my grandpa got pizza. After that my grandpa and I went back home and checked up on my grandma to see if she was ok. She still wasn’t feeling really good so I went downstairs and so did my grandpa and we just watched some of the shows he had recorded. After that my grandpa went to bed and so did I. The next morning I had breakfast with my grandpa and my grandma came out of her room and said was feeling much better so about midday we went to a place called mammoth cave, it was about 30 minutes away from their house and it was really scary because it was so dark but it was also very cold, overall it was pretty cool. After going through the cave my grandparents took me to Dairy Queen nearby and we sat outside there and ate ice cream. It was very hot outside so we didn’t stay outside there for very long. Later that day my grandparents took me to the golf course with them to watch them play golf since I didn’t know how to play yet. My grandparents and I went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant and it was really good but I saw that it was very expensive, and after that we went home. The next day my grandpa was going to be taking me home so I was watching some game shows that were on that night with my grandparents and trying to spend as much time as I could before leaving the next day. I never wanted to go home because I had so much fun with my grandparents, but after watching t.v. with my grandparents I packed up my stuff and was ready to go in the morning, and I went to bed after packing up my stuff. The next morning my grandpa and I ate breakfast. We had eggs, bacon and pancakes. After we ate I said goodbye to my grandma. We left around eight in the morning and I slept in the car for most of the time because I woke up at seven in the morning and I was really tired. When I got to my dad’s house I said goodbye to my grandpa and got my suitcase and went inside my house. 

The next summer I was almost eight and my grandma picked me up instead of my grandpa because he was going to be in Cambridge, Ontario in Canada and worked at Toyota for a while and worked up there for a new project they were doing so it was going to be just me and my grandma for a about a week until my grandpa came back. We decided not to go to Tennessee again since my grandpa was also going to be missing out on the trip. My grandma and I for the week I was there when my grandpa was gone we just went out for lunch and dinner a couple times during the week. We went clothes shopping one of the days during the week and my grandma bought me a lot of clothes and two pairs of shoes and they were really cool. Usually at night me and my grandma just watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and had a fun time laughing. My grandma is really smart and usually got a lot of the questions right and I had always thought that she could be on one of the shows. My grandpa returned the next week and my grandma and I were so excited to see him. He said it was really cool and very cold in Canada. My grandparents took me out to dinner when my grandpa had got back and we went to Louisville to go to a fancy restaurant, and it was about forty minutes away from their house. After eating at the restaurant we went back home and my grandma made me a root beer float and then my grandparents and I watched a movie that they liked and it was an old western movie with Clint Eastwood in it and they said he was really famous. My grandparents played a board game with me called Sorry and we played that three times and we had really fun playing it. My grandparents always loved to play board games with me because we always laughed and had a good time together. After playing board games with my grandparents they went to bed and I layed down in bed and watched movies until I fell asleep. The next day my grandparents took me to Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory and it was very interesting. I learned how they make their bats and got to learn about some famous baseball players and what they had accomplished in their career playing in the MLB. We spent most of the day there and we got a couple of pictures there and we got free small bats that said Louisville Slugger on it. After being there for a while we went to eat at a nice restaurant right down the street from the Museum. It was a really good experience to go to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory since I love baseball and the food right down the street was really good. When we went back home it was pretty late so I headed to bed. The next day my grandparents were going to be taking me home since they were going to Copenhagen, Denmark for a week or two, so I packed up my stuff in my suitcase and went to bed after. The next day my grandpa and I woke up at about seven o’clock in the morning to get ready to go back to Ohio to drop me off. I slept in the car to try and pass time in the car since it was an almost four hour drive back to my house. I said goodbye to my grandpa when he dropped me off and then he left. 

The next couple of years when I was eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve or thirteen my dad didn’t allow me or want me to go to my grandparents because my dad had went off on my grandparents for something my dad had said to them when he was drunk and he didn’t want me to go over there. My grandpa always said that he and my dad never really got along because my dad always made really dumb decisions when he was a kid and still makes dumb decisions today. I couldn’t go when I was fourteen either because that’s when covid hit and my grandparents didn’t want to come get me and have a chance of getting sick. But during those years I couldn’t go to my grandparents my dad just spent most of the summers going down to the bar and he didn’t want to go to work he had me watch my brother most of the time while he went out to hang with his friends and get drunk and he would always come home and yell at me for no reason and I couldn’t really do anything except just listen to it and sometimes it got really bad when he was drunk and he would sometimes push me around or hit me but I didn’t want to tell anyone about it. I didn’t ever want to stay at my house but I didn’t want to leave my brother so I just stayed and watched him and I always thought that I was always being the parent and my dad was always being the kid because I was sitting there taking care of my brother all the time. I never had time to go hang out with my friends or just free time in general. But without telling my dad I decided to join a travel ball team for baseball because I love baseball and my friends always wanted me to come play for the team with them. I knew my dad was going to be mad after the fact that I was going to tell him that it was already paid for. I told him and he was really mad because he knew my step mom was going to have to watch him. He did let me pursue playing travel ball and I actually got out of the house and had free time to play the game that I love most. But one day during that summer I had came back from practice I had at 6 in the morning my dad had to go to court because he got another DUI after having 5 of them before and he didn’t end up coming back and he went to prison for eight months and after he was out he would have his license suspended and still is until 2025. During that time he was in prison he had to call me everyday when he was able to call. My step mom was watching me and my brother while my dad was in prison. She told me that her cousin was going to be staying for a while at my house and I said ok. He was pretty cool but my stuff was coming up missing and stuff had never come up missing before. My xbox was stolen, and some of my shoes were stolen so I asked him and got all mad at me about it. One day my aunt had stopped by and I was in the living room and my aunt went into my step moms room and I guess the guy was her new boyfriend and she found them sniffing cocaine together and my aunt told the guy to get out and she started fighting my step mom and my aunt took me to my friends house while the cops were being called about what had just happened. My step mom was kicked out of the house and her and her boyfriend had to find a place to live and they lived downtown in some tents with other crackheads that were living over there also. My aunt had me come live with her and that’s what I did for the summer until my dad got out of prison.

When my dad got out I went back to live with him and things were pretty good. It felt weird for a little bit since I didn’t see him for a while. It kind of felt like I didn’t really know him and wasn’t comfortable with him. A couple of weeks later me and him started arguing like we used to and he started going to the bar very often like almost everyday because he said I always made him mad and I was the reason he went to the bar all the time. My dad always called me a disappointment and I didn’t really feel like he loved me. The only people I feel in my family that love me are my grandparents and my aunt. I don’t really get to see my grandparents or aunt a lot and my real mom is out of the picture so I felt like I had nobody who cared and I knew I had my friends and their family but I knew I didn’t have many people in my family that cared. I tried to spend as much time with my friends as possible going to stay with them after a late baseball practice without telling my dad. I felt like I had to run away from my dad. He was making me seem like I was the worst human being he knew. I knew that after the summer was over I would have to stay at my house for school. 

The next summer was this past summer and my dad wasn’t too happy about me going to my grandparents house but I did anyway. I tried to forget about what was happening in Ohio and just tried to focus and spend time with my grandparents and have fun. My grandpa and I went out to play golf almost everyday. I had learned to play golf a year before and I am pretty good. My grandma had to stay behind and go take care of her parents. Her parents are eighty-nine and eighty-six. My grandma was doing a good job taking care of them and she still is. I didn’t really get to see my grandma that much but I knew she was doing something right and helping her parents out. I stayed down there for a couple of weeks but my grandpa and I were going to go down to Tennessee to see my cousins for their birthdays. I didn’t see them for so long I felt like I was left out for a little bit but then I started talking to them and we were having a fun time at the pool because that’s where their birthday parties are usually at. After everyone had showed up we started the party and we sang happy birthday to my cousins and they blew out their candles. My grandpa and I were going to be staying in a hotel and we were going to be leaving the next day because my grandpa had to get back to Kentucky and get some work done for his job. But before we left the party my grandpa and I said bye to my cousins and aunt and uncle. We packed our stuff back up that night before leaving the next day then me and my grandpa watched some t.v then we both went to sleep. My grandpa woke me up around seven to get some breakfast at the hotel and after we ate we left. We got back at around three in the afternoon and my grandpa went to his work to go get some work done. My grandma was home and she asked me if I wanted to go play golf with her and I said yes so me and her went to play golf and we had a really fun time golfing with each other. When we got done my grandma took me to Dairy Queen for some food and it was good. The next day my grandma was going to be taking me home. She took me home the next day after I had got everything packed up and my dad called me and told me he had COVID, so I couldn't go back home so I called my friend Kyle and asked if I could stay there until my dad was done with COVID and he said sure. When my dad was done I had told Kyle’s dad about what had happened in the past and he was a state trooper and he asked me if I wanted to stay with them and I said yes. I wasn’t going to go back home. I liked it there more. They treated me with love and for the past seven months I have lived with them. My dad has been mad and probably still is but he hasn’t come for me since the people I live with now live right down the road from my dad. I still get flashbacks of what my dad has done to me. I've run away from home multiple times because of him. I just wish my real mom and dad loved me but I know I have my friends and their families.