An excerpt of the autobiography of Tamieka Peart

Really, who am I?

An excerpt of

the autobiography of Tamieka Cheryl Peart, written as a study of myself, in search of myself

Chapter 1

Tamieka Cheryl Peart born on the fourth day of February in the year 1977, to parents Henry Alton Peart and Ivy May Bilton, is this it? Does this make me, me? This is only the beginning of my journey. At age thirty one and a quarter, I am in search of myself  but I do not think I am that hard to find, it's just that the story of my life so far is a long one, for I have experienced many adventures, heartbreaks, happy times, miserable times, but am still not where I want to be as yet.

I am the fourth child of five for my father, the last child of two for my mother; my siblings are Dionne, Shelly, Camille and Henry JR. (father) and Andrea (mother). You would think that we were all loving sisters and brother, no, we were all miserable rivals competing for the love our parents did not have to give to us. Dionne, Shelly and Camille are the results of my father's previous marriage to their mother, Andrea is the product of a relationship that went bad for my mother, and Henry JR. was conceived by a woman during the period of time my mother and father had a common law relationship.

I have no memories or recollections of my life before the age of three; there are some photographs that tell a very concise story, and also the very popular hearsay from my parents, so I consider that to be irrelevant to my memoirs.

My birth certificate states that I was born at the Spanish Town Hospital in the parish of St. Catherine. I have been resident at Lincoln Road in Passage Fort ever since I can remember.