Life Is Not a Fairy Tale by Fantasia (e book reader free TXT) 📕

daughters of her own and is happily married. Kadijah is nineteen and in college. They call me all the time just to check in with me. Although their lives are so different from mine, I know they would do anything for me and I would do anything for them. It’s our memory of those broken doll parts that binds us together, forever.

Another person in my life who really keeps me grounded is my brother Rico. He has been a lifesaver and a friend. Even though he is very proud of me for winningAmerican Idol, he doesn’t take this “fame” thing too seriously. When we’re on the road together, everything is a joke with him. We play jokes on each other constantly and we laugh all the time.

Being on the road is the hardest thing I have ever done. I’m constantly losing sleep or having uncomfortable, interrupted sleep. We are traveling on buses, which are nice, but they can leave you feeling cramped, eating fast food, being “on” all day long singin’, smilin’, and signin’ autographs, even when I haven’t had enough sleep and all I really want is a little time to myself. Rico and I keep each other laughing to make it all easier.

One time during this past year when I had worked every single day without a break for weeks, I started to feel like I couldn’t do it anymore and I needed a break. I felt sick and weak. I felt like giving up. My stomach was upset every morning and I could barely walk straight. Rico saw me gettin’ weak and he said to me with the straightest face I have ever seen on him, “I never want to hear you say that you can’t do anything.” He said, “Think of all we have been through. We thought we would never be here, but weare. ” And he was right.

Although Rico is a joker, he is also a prayin’, lovin’ man who would do anything for me. He is a character who keeps everybody laughing, especially the limousine drivers and the people who work in the hotels and restaurants. But with all that laughter, he still manages to bring home and prayer with him. Rico reminds me of my mama. Keeping him with me on the road reminds me every day about where I come from and where I will return after the last song is sung.

When it comes to thinking about the other people who have made a difference in my life, I think about some of the girls who showed me what friendship is, although in some cases it was fleeting.

I once had a friend named Tamika. She and I were best friends. We were always hangin’ at the Candy Lady’s cart. The Candy Lady sold candy, soda pop, pickles, bubble gum, and ice cream. We called ourselves “the Candy Lady Queens.” I loved Tamika because she was funny and bold and always made me want to be as cool as her, in those days. Our friendship ended when we got to middle school, though, and Tamika started hanging around with the really cool girls, the girls who thought they were gangstas. We called them the “hoodie hoodchicks,” because they wore sweatshirts with hoods trying to look like the tough boys in the neighborhood. When Tamika started hanging with them, we stopped hanging around each other. I was still into church then and wondered why Tamika’s family let Tamika do a lot more than other girls our age could do, like smokin’ cigarettes and cursin’. This was around fifth and sixth grade, when I was only eleven years old. I couldn’t keep up with Tamika and, although hanging around with the hoodchicks seemed excitin’, I knew I could never do those things. I had to let her go. Sometimes I still miss those days going to the Candy Lady with Tamika and eating hard pickles and salty chips.

From when I was fourteen to now, the definition of a friend has changed a lot. When I was fourteen, I would depend on my older friends, like Tonya, to give me a place to stay when I had left my parents’ house and needed a place to go. I remember idolizing the girls who were older than me. They had their own apartments and they had no parents around telling them what to do. They made their own rules and that included letting me stay there doing whatever I wanted. Tonya thought she was being my friend and, in some ways, she was, but when I think about it, I wish she had said no to me and made me go back home to my parents, so I wouldn’t have made all those mistakes that came with living with her. I wish Tonya hadn’t bought those alcoholic drinks for me and told me that they made me an adult, when I was only fourteen years old. I wish she had been the kind of friend who wanted what was really best for me, and not whatI said I thought was best for me.

As you get older, friends are the people who will share with you, even when they only have just a little more than you. In my life, those were friends like Neek, Shanetta, Tonya sometimes, and my Aunt Sheryl. I remember those days when I had stolen milk and diapers for Zion and I didn’t want to take anything else. I would go for days without eating and Shanetta, Neek, and Tonya would give me five dollars, so I could go get a good meal, like a double cheeseburger, fries, and a drink from Steak ’N’ Shake. I remember Aunt Sheryl would also give me money or bring me a meal with meat and vegetables. The way they shared with me showed that they were real friends; they saw my circumstances and gave to me even when they heard me say I didn’t need it. Now I don’t have to worry about eatin’, but