Your parents.

[Silver]

I am in no mood to write an autobiography at the moment, so I hope you are fine with an outline.

Mom was 17, dad was a few years older when I was conceived.
When I was still a toddler, family moved from Maine to Florida.
Around age of six parents split, mom got custody.
Mom had a new man who was physically abusive to all of us except my younger sister who claimed sexual abuse.
Lived under bridges, ate out of dumpsters.
Was almost killed when my stepfather held my face against the mattress.
School intervened.
Foster home.
Biological father found us.
Left one hell to enter another.
Real dad is a verbally abusive alcoholic.
Years of verbal abuse pass, with one incidence of physical abuse.
I reach puberty and struggle with my sexuality, never sharing it with anyone.
After two years of struggling, I finally realize I am who I am.
Middle school is a bore.
High school is a bore as well.
I cannot remember the precise chronicle of these events: (dad meets a woman and marries her, I tell my step mother I am gay, I tell my sister I am gay, I tell my best friend I am gay, my sign language teacher recommends me to a school counselor who secretly councils gay students, my best friend convinces me to attend church, I become a fundamentalist christian)
I leave home for college.
Now you all know how I evolved a thick skin.