A story about a young girl whose father was locked up when she was 5 and I have no idea where the mother was, I might have missed it. She was moved from foster house to foster house mostly because she was a rebel and the foster mother kicked her out. Her best friend was a male and he was part of a wrestling team, one day she decided well, the hell let me try out for it. Her father was a wrestler too so we could say it was a blood thing, cause she was a beast. The streets were talking and turns out the dad had been released from jail so she went out looking for him. By this time she had a Spanish foster mom who was really nice. She gathered up the courage to talk to her dad one day, he sorta kinda rejected her until he found out she was wrestling. He went to watch her match and he was taken aback, it reminded him of him. He even showed her where he was staying, bought her trainers and started training her, but his story was never straight. At one point he was working at a restaurant then he stopped, he started working for the drug lord he was working for before he went to jail. She hated that this was him but she forever wanted his approval. One night he took her to a basement illegal fight and after they watched it he suggested that she do that instead of pursue wrestling which by the way would have opened doors for college scholarships for her. Her face said no and he almost flipped, he was emotionally manipulative if you ask me. He said all the things that would make her do the things just so he approves of her and sticks around, she wanted that so bad.

She went in for her first fight, she won but got hurt. He promised she would get paid $1000 but only showed her $500, I smell a rat! Her coach strongly believed that the dad was abusive but she lied and covered it up. Meanwhile her team was winning and she was one of their star wrestlers. Semi final match night her dad popped in and had her leave the game for another fight which was super real, this time it was worth $5000. She got beat UP like stupid beat but she was a tough young lady she refused to be beat. When her opponent thought she was down and out she got up and beat the life out of her, next thing the sirens rang loud. She ran towards her dad and you know what he did? He told her he couldn’t help her, he ran off and left her there. She hid and luckily was never found by the police. She couldn’t go back to the foster mothers place so she went to the best friend’s place and even though they were not in good books he was there for her, her team was there for her, her coach was there for her. That was the family that had her back and they forgave her. Her foster mother still didn’t give up her. On the day of finals, the dad showed up again trying to get her back on his side and into the ring and for the first time she walked away. Tears in her eyes (and mine) she chose what was best for her.

THE LESSON
The right choices often hurt, she wanted her father to be there and she could do anything to keep him around. But with every sacrifice she made he lost nothing, he gained. He used her with every chance he had. It is never worth it, whatever relationship it is if you are always on the short end of the stick, leave. If you always afraid of losing this person and working extra hard to keep them around, leave. It seems so hard to leave but it is the best decision you can ever make for yourself. I was in this place, this person lied to my face all the time and when the truth came out they would always find a way to make it seem like the lie was necessary. For whatever reason I would forgive them without thinking twice, I promise this person knew that I would never turn away from them. They knew my weakness for them or was it a stronghold, whichever it was it had an expiry date. I felt like I needed them so much I always played nice, stuck in there, hung in there. One day they wanted me to apologize for something I never did, for the first time I didn’t cave. I stood my ground, stood for my truth and they bid me goodbye. It hurt so bad but guess what, I am alive! I did not lose one single part of my body, I still have blood running in my system, wine still tastes like wine, I am good. Choose you! Choose your peace! Ciao