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During my Sophomore year of high school, the divorce of my parents was sudden. The past few years of living with them together never gave me any hint of what was going to present itself in my later years. That following summer was tough for me when my dad abruptly went back up to Anchorage, Alaska to continue his fishing job catching pollock. I stayed with my mom, 2 younger brothers and her new boyfriend at our old house which no longer felt like my childhood home. This change in my life was abrupt and I couldn’t adjust fast enough to what was happening. That summer consisted of me working at my first job down at Bunnies By The Bay for 6 hours, going home and packing for the next day so I could head over to my grandma’s house, because at the
It was my senior year of high school, I was sixteen, getting ready to turn seventeen. It was my senior year of high school. I was not your typical girl wearing makeup everyday and worrying about getting dolled up for school. I did not play sports. Don’t get me wrong, I would get all dolled up if I had something special to do like go to a school dance. I had a part time job at Olive garden because my parents motto was “if you do not play a sport you need to work!” My mom used to say to me “you know Alana back in my time I was not able to work so you are very lucky you're able to work.
As a small 5th grader not much sense came out of my parents divorce. Lots of confusion mixed in with an underlying sadness that I was too shy to show because I couldn’t stand the thought of making my mother cry. But it hurt. I took these emotions and bottled them up hopes that things would go back to normal
He we go. Just me and myself now. I can write whatever I want and Mrs. Wesbecher can’t read it. To this point I have wrote about a lot of fun things I have done throughout high school, but that was just the PG version. Sophomore year is when things really began to heat up. One day over at Alex’s we found the key to his parents liquor cabinet. We did exactly what 15 year old guys would do, took some sips and wow did we think we were badasses. Looking back opening the cabinet taking a few sips and locking it back up really quick was quite comical. One night during Sophomore year it was Alex, Cal, and I, Alex drank a lot and we started to walk around town (no license yet). We walked around town for a long time with Alex’s sloppy ass. After a while
Two months into the year I was in a severe car accident in which I suffered from a serious concussion as well as a sprained neck. The scariest part about the incident was not actually the crash, it was the aftermath. I was completely alone when I was in the accident and I remember immediately not being able to hear out of my left ear, the side that hit the interior wall of the car during the impact. The collision was head on so my car had engine failure making it impossible to move. My airbags deployed and a thick powder mixed with smoke was released into the air. I couldn’t get out of my car, so I was trapped in the car while having an asthma attack because of the lack of oxygen. Never in my life have I been so scared and had no idea what to do in the situation.With this being my third concussion, I recovered very slowly. I missed over a month of school and during this period of time I was also missing the college process. At the time my mother was across the country on the west coast taking care of my beloved grandmother who was terminally ill from a longtime battle with cancer. With her being gone and my only brother being away at college, there wasn’t the comfort of having my family around during this hard period. That year my grandmother passed away and I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I missed a huge part of my senior year and there was a possibility of not being able to
To begin with, my life five years ago was very swell. I was fourteen years old and in the eighth grade. I hadn’t got a job yet, I didn’t have very many friends, I was very shy and antisocial and was always on the computer. I was getting excited about my Washington D.C. trip with my school but I was also very nervous about having to share a room and a bed. I was even more nervous because I knew what shorty was going to follow; which was me going over to the high school to become a freshman. I was only so nervous because it was going to be a new place, a new school and a bunch of new faces around me. Then again I was very happy in life because I had set goals but I am also very happy in life now.
One Sunday morning, early, I’d say around 5:00am or so I was laying in my bed sound asleep in my nice, cold, dark room all snuggled up in my blankets and about 8 pillows surrounding me. I was woken up by my mom and with a voice so soft but with a hint of excitement she says, “Sarah time to wake up, we have to be at the airport in an hour”. I moaned and groaned because I stayed awake most of the night just so excited about what the day had in store for me replaying situations in my head over and over again! Soon enough me and my mom are in her car driving to Kansas City to get on a plane to West Palm Beach, Florida. Our car is packed to the celling of all our bags filled with clothes, shoes, blankets, some kitchen ware, bathroom stuff and other essentials and that’s when it hit me, wow I’m leaving Kansas City. Or more like I’m leaving all my friends, family, my dog, and the house I grew up in for most my life. I took my last looks of Missouri and with every emotion running threw me I didn’t know if I was exited or scared or both to be moving to a different state!
That was a year where we lost a lot especially time. There was a lot of cut backs with everything. I have struggled a lot, but I never let it get the best of me. That same year my family couldn't afford our house anymore so we had to move out. Even before I was born there was no real communication between my whole family. My grandmother decided to take the money from the house and promised us she will give us some so we can get back on our feet. That moment marked the first disappointment. She never did keep her promise. I struggled to stay to have a stable household. There was a time that I couldn't afford my school books or I had to live at my other grandparent's house. From that moment on, I knew that you can't truly trust everyone or you can't truly know someone. You have to trust your gut and that will lead anyone to the light. From then on, I have had a new look out on
I can remember a time long ago when we were all together as a family. Those memories are so long ago though and are very faded, I can only remember bits and pieces now. My parents divorced in 1989 in Farmington N.M. and my life would never be the same. So many things changed the day my parents, my family, split up. My father moved away to Las Vegas, N.V. shortly after the divorce was finalized. We only occasionally saw him after that, usually when all the planets were in alignment. It wasn’t his fault nor was it my mother’s fault, it was just difficult for things to line up properly for a visit. But that’s just how things go sometimes. My mother moved us
In eighth grade I made the decision to take the risk of trading in my queen size bed and baby blanket for a twin bed and a complete stranger for a roommate. I came from a small private school located in New Haven, Connecticut that is called The Foote School. I was used to the things people at my school enjoyed like recess, gym class, and soccer. For me, the routine was the same. Everyday I would pack lunch in my lunch box, get Dunkin Doughnuts for breakfast, and scramble to finish my math homework on the twenty five minute car ride to school. The days were almost effortless. I always knew what I had to do and when I had to do it because everyone was constantly reminding me because, after all, I was just a middle schooler. When I was little, whenever we used to drive through New Hampshire, we would stop at the Tilton Diner, or as I called it “that place with the good milkshakes”. To be quite honest, I never actually knew that I was in New Hampshire when I would go to the diner; someone could’ve
My parents had fiddled with the idea for the entire summer and it seemed as if it was the time to take the plunge in the stagnant issue of moving. It’s not like it had been as surprise that the move was coming; yet it seemed too soon. California was the only place that was known as home, it was so familiar that it was near impossible to be living somewhere else. One thing that has to be kept in mind when making a drastic lifestyle change is the packing. The packing seemed endless, piles and piles of useless belongings that at one point were so important, now lined the bottomless pit of a dumpster. The last night before the move was an incredibly difficult one and not how I expected it. All of the family that had accompanied me since birth came to say their tearful goodbyes. Of course there was crying involved from my part, but I never knew I could cry so much. For so...
The drive was long, but after some time we arrived at our new home, an apartment complex on the outskirts of the city. Our arrival and subsequent move-in was met with strange looks and whispers. It's not quite a feeling of hostility, yet my family felt slightly unwelcome. The following day, mom had two plans. The first plan was to finish her transfer to a new workplace, and the second was for my placement at a local school. The next day had arrived, and she left me at home with father. Hours later she had finished working out the details of her job and she had finally managed to place me in a school, Wolf-Ever elementary and high school. Classes for the children were to begin that Monday.
Our family was never close but we didn’t care. Nobody thought one day things might be different. All of that changed on September 20, 2014 when a hostile argument ended with the death of both my aunt and uncle. For years their marriage was falling apart. My aunt was very materialistic and wanted my cousins to have whatever they asked for but in reality my uncle knew it was impossible financially for them to achieve this. He would try to explain this to her but it usually led to arguments where she would then threaten to leave him so in the end she got her way which led to their vast debt. My uncle had a drinking problem but went to AA classes for her to commiserate their marriage and family. The night before this event he had drank a beer which led into a dispute which ended with my aunt taking the kids to her mom’s and they stayed their while my uncle just stayed home. Less than twelve hours later the mailman walked up to a house with my aunt dead on the front porch and my uncle inside on the living room floor dead. The screams caught the attention of the neighbors and the police was then called. This is a significant experience in my life that I faced and that had an impact on me during my freshman year and still affects me today. It was a homicide/suicide accident and it deeply impacted my family and me. Not only did it affect my school life but my home life as well.
At the young age of ten, I was faced with a situation that has had one of the largest influences in who I am today. My parents’ divorce has and still currently plays a role in my life that has affected my drive for motivation bringing diverse perspectives. At such a young age, I was filled with such remorse, discouragement, and fear. My educational abilities were collapsing, along with some of my common social activities. I was absent-minded due to my adolescent understanding and confusion of the situation. I became emotionally depleted coming eye to eye with what I was promised would never happen. My personal connections with my family gradually became diminished, from what I kept so valuable. I was placed in a situation that tore apart my contentment, arrogance, and self motivation. It wasn’t until years later, I took my position as a chance to transform my bleakness into a strong desire for greatness.
Some memories are best forgotten, but it takes courage to go through them. Often, I wish to forget the day when I almost lost my parents in a tragic car accident. As my world came crumbling down, I prayed and hoped that the nightmare would soon end. I endlessly fought the sense of helplessness, isolation and fear of the uncertainty. I was 19 and clueless. Nevertheless, I sailed through these dreadful days and welcomed my parents home after six long months. In the months that followed my parent’s return, I juggled between taking care of my parents, graduating college and adjusting to my new job. Almost 10 years later, this dark phase still has a phenomenal impact on me. Perhaps, because this specific experience transformed me into a grateful,
With the help of my friends and family, I began to heal. I believe that it was at this point that I began to truly grow up. I no longer thought of myself as a shy, dependent young girl. I was developing into an independent young adult. It was now I that was responsible for knowing when events were such as when homework was due, and as much as I wanted to give up, I knew that I had to keep trying. I reminded myself that while a tragic event did happen to me, it did not have to define me. My initial goal was just to do what would have made my mom proud. Being the second month of school, I was involved in many different programs. I was attending an eighth program at the high school for math and science in addition to my middle school courses, swimming on a competitive swim team, and adjusting to living in a new house with different