I have two sisters and one brother. My sisters are Eva and Margaret, and then Joe, my brother. They were born in Hungary. Two were born in July and the other in November. No, I don’t remember when they were young and funny because they were out a lot. My life was sad and happy at times. At one time I was forgotten at a day care centre, and I was the last one waiting for my brother or sister to pick me up.

I did not see my parents enough back then. I miss my father. He has passed away. I looked like a small girl with a short hair cut at times. I was happy and other times I was very sad and serious as I was growing up. When my brother or sisters teased me I started to cry or I would to say something in Hungarian and they would laugh at me. Some teenagers were good and bad. There was one girlfriend I had in high school and she was a troublemaker, and we missed class one time.

I started working after high school when I was 16. I was a general helper in clothing stores and warehouses. I worked at Time Life and Sears warehouse. It was hard at first. Then I learned how to do things when they showed me. Sometimes it took me three or four times to show me before I understood. People called me names and it hurt me. After, I didn’t do so badly. I started to learn about reading and writing, how to look up information about things, and not to be scared any more. I have become independent.

When I was told about something in my family, and not to tell, that’s when I used to get in trouble. I often would forget things, too. I just learned not to say things to other people so they could trust me again. I felt left out of my family at times.