BACKGROUND
There are some gaps in my memory about the specifics, but I have a pretty accurate recollection of the major events of my childhood. I initially lived with my dad and grandparents permanently in Mississauga and would visit my mom on weekends in Scarborough. While living in Mississauga, I was enrolled at Garthwood Park Public School at the age of 5 for kindergarden. The best thing about Garthwood was that it was a 60 second walk from my doorstep to school, but I remember still finding ways to be late. I quickly made a solid group of friends at Garthwood, many of which I am still friends with today over 20 years later. My dad’s side of the family is religious, so I was raised in the church as a Seventh-Day Adventist. The weekends that I stayed with my dad and grandparents, I would go to church with them on Saturday mornings and attend a class called Sabbath School. I always hated the idea of having another school on weekends, but it really wasn’t that bad. Mississauga SDA Church is where I would meet my best friends: Patrick, Jordan, Derrell, Evert, and Nick. We all began to love coming to church because that would mean we got to see each other. Church became our headquarters where we would each exchange stories from school during that week, laugh about anything and everything, and find new ways to avoid having to sit and listen in church. As a kid, church can be extremely boring especially if you don’t understand the majority of what the preacher is saying; but without fail, we would always get caught in the hallways and get herded back to our seats like cattle. Now back to my living arrangements – this is where the story gets a little bit blurry. I think I attended Garthwood until I was about 7 years old, but I’m not exactly sure if I was there for my entire grade 2 year or not. During this time my mother obtained custody of me and I began living with her permanently in Scarborough.
It was an interesting dynamic growing up in two different families – on one side I was seemingly an only child, but on another side I was a big brother with responsibilities. This is where I’ll introduce my younger brother Jahlani and the family on my mom’s side. Jahlani is only 3 years younger than me, which doesn’t seem like much; but he was still my baby brother. We would fight about almost everything in the house, but I think we really just loved finally having each other around all the time. Now that I was living with my mom, the visiting arrangement became reversed and I would visit my dad and grandparents every other weekend. I should probably now introduce Jahlani’s dad, Glen. It was pretty difficult explaining to my brother why I never called Glen “Dad” like he did, so eventually he just stopped asking. My mom and Glen also never married, but it was extremely helpful having him around and being treated like his own. Once things settled after the custody switch, I was enrolled at Highland Heights Public School in Scarborough. My mom’s sister Yvonne had moved with my cousins from Ottawa to Scarborough and my mom allowed them to stay with us in our apartment while she looked for a house. We did what needed to be done to make it work since we are a closely-knit family and refuse to leave anyone behind. Fortunately for the kids involved in this transition, we loved it since that now meant we would all be attending the same school. For as long as I can remember, I have always had the closest bond with my two cousins Justin and Kadeem; most likely due to us all being around the same age and having experienced very similar situations growing up – we refer to ourselves as The Trio.
At the corner of Birchmount Rd and Finch Ave, police sirens were the norm in Glendower Circuit – probably one of the worst neighbourhoods in Scarborough during that time. The Trio was born as cousins, but we were raised as brothers. It was nearly impossible to ignore the environment around us in our complex, so our best chance to remain safe at all times was to always stay together. We would preach that nobody ever gets left behind, period. It seemed that we were all naturally gifted with the ability to excel at sports, so the question of who was the best would consistently arise. I obviously believed I was the best out of us; but if you asked Justin, he would assure you that he was the best, and if you asked Kadeem he would affirm that in fact he was the best. That same confidence in ourselves is probably what kept us together and what constantly pushes the others beyond their limits to this day.