Good day to you Steemians.
I am entering this submission for the tell your story contest. Some of it sad but with a lovely happy ending.
My name is Darren Hi this is me on my wedding day back in 2007.
Life before Steemit.
I am 37 years old and life before steemit was wide and varied, I am english originally from the North East of England.
I had a happy childhood and lived in a small fishing town called North Shields with my Mum, Dad and Brother.
I also have a half sister but she never lived with us, she lived with my Uncle.
Life was good we were a normal family, holidays, Christmas's etc and then at the age of 9 tragedy struck I lost my Mum. She passed away suddenly from a brain haemorrhage. At 9 you are thinking things like "where is my mum? What do you mean she has died?" And it was a very painful period in my life. In fact it was so bad I tried to latch on to any older woman as a mother figure to replace the mum I had lost.
For about a year my dad, brother and I struggled on. Dad worked a lot so that meant lots of babysitters for me or spending time at my Aunts house with my cousins.
Then in 1991 dad met someone else, and he remarried. I was just turning 11 at this time, and I was told that we were moving to a new area, and I would be changing schools. I had just had my first year at high school and I loved it and to be dragged to a new school was not sitting well with me. What was worse was my brother was not coming with me, you see he was fifteen and decided that he did not want to go. As he was nearly sixteen Dad agreed and let him get set up himself with support from some of the family.
So we moved to a place called Whickam, now I can say it is a beautiful little village. But at 12 and still reeling from losing my mum, I didn't care how nice it was I just wanted to be back in my old house with my old friends.
My Dads wife originally came from Cheshire, and life was not easy, she had three older children much older, two lived away from home and one still lived there. I never felt like I fitted and Dad still worked away, so it was me and them.
I felt like an outsider, never one of the family. I was made to feel that I would never accomplish anything of myself. I remember one year my dad giving his Technics stacker Hifi system to my stepbrother who gleefully ran upstairs with it. And that christmas I got a cheap chinese one. When ever I expressed my dissatisfaction when my Dad was not around I would be told "you need to buck up lad do you want to end up in a care home?"
This went on for four years until I reached fifteen, I would often speak to my brother and he was working for a fairground and I would go there every weekend. And thats when I was introduced to Drugs, now I am happy to say that I did not do anything like heroin or cocaine, but things like weed, ecstasy, speed and LSD were becoming regular to me, and then something drastic happened.
One night I had arranged with a friend to go to another persons flat in the west end of Newcastle, I lied to my brother and my parents telling them I was going somewhere else. That night we had a great time drinking and smoking weed and then we turned to go to sleep.
In the early hours of the following morning two men came into the flat, as it had no lock on the door. They knew the owner of the flat and were sitting chatting to her and drinking, I got up and started to sort my stuff out. Now these two men were much older than me, and they started mocking me for the colour of my hair and really intimidating me, I just shrugged it off and gave as much back.
Then as the morning went on the owner of the flat said would I mind waiting for her baby sitter as she had to get to work and would only be five minutes, the men were still there and stupidly I said yes.
When she left the house, my world turned black as night, when one of the men said "take off your glasses, because I don't like to punch people with glasses on."
For 8 hours I was tortured in the flat, I wont go into the full information but I had a broken nose, skull fractured cheek bone. I ended up at hospital, the police were called and I was able to give a full statement which the men were caught and were well known to the police.
My life turned really bad after that I left home because of arguing with my parents and set up myself when I was sixteen, still doing drugs and letting myself go.
Then at 18 my life turned, I realised something that I was hiding and I came out to people and told them I was gay.
I don't know what happened like by magic my life changed, I didn't feel scared any longer I actually started making some friends and trusting people again. By this time I had a small apartment on the Newcastle Quayside and I finally met the someone that I knew I wanted to spend all my days with. We married on 31st of March 2007 and that was the happiest day of my life, and it just kept getting better and better.
After that we bought a house together and lived there for fourteen years which were extremely happy years leaving lots of memories, we sold the house February this year and I was so upset the day we moved out.
In April this year, we moved to Bulgaria, after fourteen years of hard work I decided I didn't want to pay a mortgage anymore, there is sixteen years difference between me and my partner, so by the time I would retire I thought we would not have many years together. So I sold up and bought a very cheap house here, I work from home and teach english as a foreign language which is why I was able to be in this position.
My house in Bulgaria currently going through renovations.
How was I introduced to steem it?
So I have been considering other ways of making a small income an my friend @whatawombat told me about steem. I was sent a message advising that I should check it out as I already am blogging about my life here and that it might be a good way to get exposure.
What is your Channel Topic?
My channel topic is mainly about my life here, growing vegetables, enjoying the weather, more about this country. But also I hope to share interesting points that I found with you all.
Hobbies and Interests?
Steemit of course is one of them, I am finding myself addicted to it now. I am a huge dog fan and have three dogs called Paddy, Max and Phoenix. I love watching movies and have an interest in paranormal activity. I am also learning the Bulgarian language that is not easy to learn at all. I love to talk about cooking, I am a big softie about Christmas so expect lots of posts in December about that. I recently am finding at night im watching the stars looking for *UFO's I do believe in Aliens.
Your best and worst experiences here?
I would say my best experiences are all the help that people provide you with if you ask the right questions, I am meeting so many amazing people in just a few days who encourage and support me.
Worst experiences are those people who think they can post one post and hit the jackpot, you take your time to make a good post and they don't read it they just say "hey great post follow me!!!"
Life after steemit?
Life after steemit I don't think will ever be the same now, I wake up on a morning with a spring in my step, heading over to the computer to see what is happening in the community. I feel now that my life is at its fullest, every day is a new adventure and I really want to share those adventures with you.
So that is a sum up of my story I do hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I will enjoy reading your stories.
Thank you for your time have an amazing Sunday.