Leslie McSpadden
speaker
84 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2025
last heard Jun 2025
Leslie McSpadden’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsNo recordings in the last 12 months.Older appearances are listed below; set an alert to hear about the next one.
Appearances
They really doted over him. They loved him. I saw the same type of love that they gave to their son. They were just some really great parents. They really were.
He just loved Mike Mike. He took Mike Mike to the barbershop, McDonald's. Like he knew his grandfather was going to take him somewhere. I'll tell you this. When he would keep Mike, he would put him in a high chair and put the top over him and put on Disney movies. And that's what started the whole visual thing for Mike, because he was a whiz at the game, had every game that came out.
I love the fact that he had some old schooling in his life because it taught him structure and discipline as well. Because I was still young. I was still under 20 myself.
I went back to school, and Mike would drive me to my bus stop, and I would catch two buses to get out to Ladue. After maybe three or four months, I had a fight at school. I was suspended, and I still wasn't giving up. After my suspension, I went back because I was determined. And one of the young ladies was just continuing to bother me, although I was trying to block it out.
It just became just too much of a hindrance, and then I still had home. to be concerned about, you know, Mike's a baby who's going to watch him. So I dropped out of school in 11th grade.
Our room was in the basement. And so, you know, when you're in the basement, you really can't tell if it's daytime or nighttime until you actually look out the window or go upstairs. And I used to be down there so much. I know that I probably had slipped into depression and I didn't want to go outside. I didn't I wasn't feeling myself. And then, you know, Mike, him and I used to fight.
Even though I was still here laying on the side of this man, he sleeps snoring. My eyes are wide open and my mind is racing, thinking about my next step. You know, like, I had to be strategic.
I had a doctor's appointment, and they let me know she was really high up, going to send you in, you know. So it took like all day, all night, and I had Deja like 2.30 in the afternoon the next day. Natural.
And then he picked Deja up, and he was running down the hall with her. Oh, God, that's a funny story.
They went to school together, they played together, bathed together, slept together, you know, all of that.
His mom, she just, she's a sweet lady. Don't get me wrong. She really is. She has a good heart. She said, Nana Poo, I'm going to pay the rent and you let Mike go on with y'all. And I really didn't want to do that, but I said, okay, okay. So when I got my very first apartment, she paid my rent as long as he was there.
Yeah, I was working two jobs. And I would come home at night after working the two jobs, meaning I'm gone all day. He would have company in my house. They would be playing the game. My children would still have on the same pajamas. And they would be telling me they hungry. And I said, that's it. You can't. No, no, no, no. You got to go.
One time I had like three jobs and I didn't have a vehicle. So I had to rely on people to pick me up and drop me off. So I remember coming in the house, talking to the kids, making sure they ate, making sure everything was okay. You know, sitting down on the couch, putting my head back for maybe five minutes and hearing the horn blow. Oh, that's my ride. I got to get to the next job.
And when I was at Schnucks is when I met someone who worked at Strop's. And they said, you should come over there and you should, you know, and I gave it a try. And then I ended up at Strop's.
I also was a cheese connoisseur when I was at Straub's. I learned about several cheeses to pair with limes and all that good stuff and grapes. So what they would do is they would send me to all the Straub's to do demos.
If something is going on with my kids, I'm gone. I would rather be there than anyone else because... No one knew more than me about my children and their health.
The health care I was receiving from the state would not let him go see a cardiologist or a neurologist, the people that he needed to see for his health. And I had to work 8,000 hours, 8,000, so that I could qualify and put Mike on my insurance. But I did it. And they only gave me a 10-cent raise with that. But whatever you got to do for your kids, you're going to do it.
I was hiding myself behind glasses and big hair. And my mom came to me one day and she just kept trying to look in my face. And I knew that someone had told her. And that's when I was like, nah, I can't do this. Even though she knows that I witnessed her go through it, it hurt her to see me going through that, you know? But I would try to hide it from the kids.
Like, no, this could not be love. And this is definitely not what I want. You know, there's got to be something better. Like, I deserve better.
And Louis was at the counter. And I walked past. And he was just piercing me. And I just stopped.
Showing 41–60 of 84 · page 3 of 5
← Previous
Next →