I had it rough too, raised in the Bronx on welfare for most of my childhood. My mother is gay and I'm very cool with her lifestyle. She's been with the same woman for 27 years, Maggie has always been great to me. But, prior to her coming out of the closet she was miserably depressed and beat me like it was her job, there's was one incident where she broke both my thumbs. One of the first girls she was with put cigarettes out in my hands. My father went through a rough time too, I guess it's hard to hear that your wife is leaving you because she's gay. He blamed himself and life wasn't all fun and games when with him either. As my Mother's made progress with therapy and finally came out, I was so happy for her that I just forgave what she had done to me in the past.
At that point I started to get into trouble, never went to school, got into drugs, fights, in and out of jail, etc....
When the school kicked me out in 9th grade I had no choice but to go live with Dad. We lived in a city in NY called Yonkers. There were two side of the city, an impoverished black section or a wealthy white section over run by the Mob. We lived in this area. I went to high school and became friends with a ton of young gangsters. My father had changed, really turned my life around as far as school but the trouble never stopped. Those same young gangsters become older more dangerous gangsters and the drugs flowed like river water. One of my friends (while in witness protection) got popped for running the largest ecstasy ring in the US!
Regardless, my life turned out ok. I forgive them both as we all make mistakes. That's what life is about...
Here's an episode of springer that will give you a first hand look into the life of Ship!