For whatever reasons, there are people who choose to live lives filled with vice, surrounded by strife, and without an apprehension of consequence. The Live hard, die young motto was one my Mother adopted long before I was born. It was never a life I wanted to be a part of, but I was. This is my story. Maria Mendoza

EXCERPT

Mom, forty-three with sags and bags seen through near sheer spandex and miniskirts, her dark straight hair sprouting gray wings from side to side, skin tinted a brown natural tan even in Michigan’s coldest winter months. I never knew a day she wasn’t strong, in charge, and oozing with confidence.