Mike grew up on the East Side of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania with his parents, two sisters, and a host of extended family members from both sides. As a child, he was taught plenty of traditional family values. Both of his parents and elders preached hard work and good manners to him. His Grandmother took him, his siblings, and cousins to Church, and his teachers and coaches provided substantial reinforcement of those principles outside of his home. Unfortunately, when he reached the age where he was able to start making some of his own decisions, he strayed away from the teachings he received as a child, and gravitated towards the teachings, and company of those that didn't have his future, or best interest in mind. By doing so, he allowed the idea of working hard and displaying good manners to be replaced with looking for the easy way, and showing a lack of respect for others. He also allowed the Christian morals and principles that he was taught to be replaced with a street mentality, and anyone that tried to remind him of his childhood teachings was disregarded. After being incarcerated, he did a lot of soul searching. Reflecting on the two different approaches towards life that he received as a child, throughout his adolescence, and young adulthood. This is what led him to write Embracing Adulthood. Hopefully it will help someone else facing the same dilemmas that he faced make some decisions that lead to a better outcome in their lives than he had.