The Story of Mylike

By Mylike S. Beverly

My name is Mylike S. Beverly I consider myself a strong independent African American female.  The reason I consider myself being a strong independent woman is that so far I haven’t met many women of my age that has faced the challenges that I’ve endured.  I was born 11:58 July 3, two minutes before the fourth of July 1982 at Summit Hospital.  Summit is a hospital that provides great patient care unlike Highland Hospital which leaves you sitting in the waiting room for eight hours.

As a kid I was so excited about going to school that I couldn’t wait to arrive for my first day.  Looking back at my preschool year everything seemed somewhat of a disappointment because I don’t remember any of the teachers’ faces or anything they taught.  But my high school years were the bomb!  I was 14 years old living with my grandmother in Newark, California which was a totally different environment where I met new people who seemed to be from a completely different culture. This change expanded my social skills along with opening my eyes to a new world of culture.  Right now today I am able to communicate with others no matter who they are or what there race, gender, or religion. Also, high school was the place I learned to dress competitively, mingle with the crowd, resist peer pressure, and develop my independence.

While I was discovering my independence alone away from my family I often thought about my seven brothers and sisters: Timothy my brother next to me, Jazmine my sister, Parrish my mother’s son, then the triplets Emani, Laylani, and Naylani, and my baby brother Javon. Being the oldest along with having to bare overwhelming responsibilities for a girl that age, didn’t allow me time to spend playing and hanging out with my younger siblings.

If it wasn’t for the challenges or changes life at home would have been normal. Like any other family we watched TV together, on holidays other family members would come over to visit.  I was hoping my favorite cousin Tomyia would come over more often because we were the same age and would talk about things that only girls our age would talk about.

Like other families we shared bad and good times just like any other normal family.

I was hoping Tomyia would come over more often because she was my favorite cousin and the same age.  I had bad times and good ones as well just like any other normal family.

I got my first job when I was in the 9^th grade at Hometown Buffet with my mom as a line server.  I restocked the food as it got low so that guess would continue to have a variety of delicious foods.  Working there was a learning experience for me because there were a lot of Spanish speakers that worked there.  They helped me learn Spanish an I helped them learn English at the same time we worked.  I was really excited because I felt like I was beginning to learn the process of becoming an adult.

My teenage years were so stressful it forced me to become an adult at a young age along with my eagerness to become a grown woman.  With those pressures binding I left home when I was 16 years old and been on my own every sense.  My interpretation of adult life was the freedom to choose so I chose to start experimenting with drugs and the partying that goes along with it.  Even though living on my own enabled me to make my own decisions I know now that drugs were the wrong choice.  It led me to become homeless, it created a shaky relationship with my mom and brother Parrish and now I sometimes feel alone. Those people that use to hang around when I had money stop hanging with me because I was no longer a benefit.  Now that I am 23 years old I’ve matured and I have learned that life presents lessons that can’t be taught by schools, parents, or Universities these things comes with living.  So now I’m starting from scratch once again and I’m determined to succeed!  I’m finding out being an adult is really challenging if I could start over I would but there’s no turning back now. Knowing that, I have moved into South County Homeless Shelter, with the intent to start rebuilding my life.

Things going my way, sounds lovely right? But I’ve learned that sometimes you have to do things you may not like to do but, sometimes it’s necessary in order to get the things you want or the way you would like them to be. As a teenager I thought everything had to go my way or I was ready to fight. I remember starting a fight with a girl at school, all because she was interested in the same guy that I was interested in dating also. And when she started to pursue him even though he and I didn’t have a relationship it made me angry to the point I started a fight. Looking back as an adult I have more control of my temper and now just thinking about it makes me laugh.

I moved to Modesto, CA. when I was about 20 or 21 to be by my mom and brother. Modesto is like the Valley so it was pretty boring. I had been there about two months and finally got a job as a Telemarketer for a company called Directline Technologies. It was my first professional job in this specific field. We cold called Alumni from multiple Universities. It was another learning experience for me. I learned how to put new words in my vocabulary like: Technologically, Anesthetist, prestigious, and Anesthesiologist. It might not sound like that big of a deal but it was for me. I learned about what different colleges had to offer, what Nurse Anesthetist were,  where colleges are located, when they were founded, etc. In the experience of working there has increased and broadened my vocabulary. At age 23 I moved back to Oakland, CA I became a Telemarketer for a Mortgage company making $15 an hour. That was as well a learning experience but I won’t go into that.

South County:

Now I’m at South County Homeless Project which is coordinated through BOSS.

Which I consider it to be a well ran organized community that has multiple ways of distinguishing right from wrong, responsibility, work ethics, social skills, ways to retrieve housing, and maintaining your mental health.

Not that I did not have these skills in the first place, it’s just that  living at the shelter is bring out  another learning experience for me because I am relearning things I already thought I knew.

The people who work here and the others that live here are open to sharing there thoughts and suggestions which gives me enlightenment. I am one of the youngest residential adults, which makes my stay here a unique experience. Everyone is older then me, but that doesn’t make them any smarter. I realize that they are more experienced so I listen.  Alone with listening I observe as well, and try to build my skills based on their trials and tribulations.

I look at the positive and negative things and weed out what I need. And believe me there are a lot of positive energy around.  When I first came here my thoughts were that I wasn’t going to make it, and that it was just another shelter that wouldn’t have shown the least amount of support or compassion for me as a person. But since I’ve been here I’ve met a lot of people with very different personalities but they all look after me. One of the things I’ve heard from just about all of them is, “your still really young Mimi and you have plenty of time to except the things you can’t change and move on to the things you can.” So I think I am going to do just that.   

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