The Story of My Life

The Story of My Life chronicles Emmerson G. Donald's young years, the many hardships suffered, along with the abuse he endured at the hands of his stepfather, then his father and stepmother when he moved away to live with them in late 1981. Determined to escape the abuse and find a better life, Donald sought to achieve academic success in school. Later, when his grades declined, he withdrew, refusing to admit his deteriorating, shattered life to his teachers. In 1985, his grandmother died and he saw his mother for the first time in four years. When he was re-united with his mother, she explained the reasons for her abandonment, admitting to him that her relationship with her husband had dissolved due to domestic abuse. When Donald shows her the visible scars of his 'lifetime of beatings,' the mother and child bond is immediately renewed. Mother and son are also determined to renew their relationship.