My mom was born in Alabama in January 1961 and is black and Native American (she swore up and down once when she was drinking that she was half and half but I'm not sure if this is true. This would explain why she doesn't really "look" black). She won't hesitate to tell you to screw off if you mess with her and is probably the best cook in the world. She never went to college or anything but she's pretty smart for the most part. She had three kids; I was the only one who survived (though it was looking pretty bleak for me too at the time).

My dad was born in West Virginia in August 1942 and went through a lot of trouble with the KKK growing up. Because of this he took up sports. He later went to college at 17 (also had kids at 17 with his then-wife but let's not get into that now) to become an engineer. He later became one of the first black men in the US to run a crane. In being an engineer he helped build and/or improve a lot of places in or near Ohio, such as the Columbus Zoo (helped build the bird topiary and the prairie dog exhibit), Alum Creek (built the dam out there, there's actually a really morbid story about this but it's not for this thread), Westland High School, a few shopping centers, and some other things down in southern Ohio. He has a tons of skills and talents, notably his being able to play a few instruments. He was actually self-taught in doing so. He retired in 1999 at 57 years old, and just recently died last year due to cardiac arrest/patient neglect. He had just turned 68 years old.

To be honest, I wasn't really close with either of them growing up. They had drinking problems and always argued and didn't really understand me as a kid (i.e. they wanted me to be what they wanted me to be, and didn't understand why I liked art over music. My dad was more adamant about me being into playing music than my mom was though). I still love them though and I have to take care of my mom now since my dad is gone. She quite literally has nowhere else to turn to due to the economy and some other things.