Throughout her 61 years on this earth, Elmira Denise Jones has been through some detrimental situations that would cause the average person to give up. She has had to deal with the loss of several loved ones, substance abuse, illness, losing her job, and almost losing everything she owned. Life has caused her to go from a young woman who was once strong, and healthy, to a woman who is now old, fragile, and disabled. Although she has been through so many bad situations in her life, she is still managing to survive the storm.
Born and raised in the inner city of Baltimore, Maryland. Elmira’s life has always revolved around family. Growing up she was surrounded by both parents and grandparents, an aunt, and her siblings who all resided under
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“Being a parent was a new experience and I had a lot of sleepless nights”, Elmira said. After high school, Elmira got married. After getting married, she and her husband moved to Annapolis, Maryland. Elmira later gave birth to her second child. For the first three years of her marriage was everything was great. Suddenly, things took a turn for the worst. “There were signs my husband had developed a drug problem. This was the beginning of a nightmare for not only myself, but for my children. My children were being exposed to things I was unaware of”, Elmira said. Elmira’s husband was often in and out of jail. As a result of her husband’s mischievous behavior, after five years of marriage she divorced her husband. After her divorce from her husband, Elmira moved back in with her parents for a while, until she found …show more content…
She worked in the computer field with much advancement doing data entry and database management. Elmira ended her work experience being an office manager in the health care arena for 15 years. She was forced to resign due to the illness that she suffers from called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is defined as a group of lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. This disease makes it hard for her to be able to live a normal life. She must walk around with an oxygen machine every second of her life. This illness caused her to lose her apartment and many other things that she loved so dearly because she could no longer afford the lifestyle she had
Where they grew up, kids as young as 8 years old were recruited into illegal operations; Wes and Tony included. Mary tried everything she could, but had lost her sons to the wonder and curiosity that money brings. The important place a mother should hold in her son’s life vanished and she was left to take care of their mistakes. Later in their lives, both boys were caught in a heist that set them up for an entire lifetime in jail. Their arrest sent “cheering responses” from everyone in their community. The boys were not only involved with a robbery, but a murder as well. The word spread quickly about their sentences and a “collective sigh of relief seeped through Baltimore. At home, Mary wept” (Moore 155). Many families go through traumatic experiences comparable to Mary’s situation. The choices her sons made left her alone, parallel to the isolation the boys were experiencing as
Working as a teacher serving at-risk four-year-old children, approximately six of her eighteen students lived in foster care. The environment introduced Kathy to the impact of domestic violence, drugs, and family instability on a developing child. Her family lineage had a history of social service and she found herself concerned with the wellbeing of one little girl. Angelica, a foster child in Kathy’s class soon to be displaced again was born the daughter of a drug addict. She had been labeled a troublemaker, yet the Harrisons took the thirty-hour training for foster and adoptive care and brought her home to adopt. Within six months, the family would also adopted Angie’s sister Neddy. This is when the Harrison family dynamic drastically changes and Kathy begins a journey with over a hundred foster children passing through her home seeking refuge.
Elayna Evans life is full of mysteries. She has lost everyone. Hunt, her husband, disappeared 10 years ago and her daughter Carrie died of meningitis at the age of 4. She has had a lifelong friend, Jayboy. He helps her in many ways through the struggles and she helps him.
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
As world boxing champion Muhammad Ali once said, “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life” (“Courage”). Helping people around you is courageous. Helping them when you are going through life altering struggles is heroic. Selma Phillips has demonstrated these lessons throughout her life with a good attitude, strong motivation, sacrifices and by volunteering for countless hours in the face of adversity.
Unfortunately, however, after years of a happy marriage, Janie accidentally kills her husband during an argument. Her town forces her not only to deal with the grief, but to prove her innocence to a jury. Enduring and overcoming her three husbands and forty years of life experiences, Janie looks within herself to find and use her long hidden, but courageous voice.
One day, Precious is called to speak with her school’s principle who asks her to begin attending an “alternative” school being she is pregnant again and still in junior high school. Though Mary is furious that the Principle made this suggestion, Precious does begin attending the school and, through testing, it is determined that she is illiterate. The school begins to help Precious understand the opportunities that education with have on her life and the life of her children. After giving birth to her second child, Precious returns home to an enraged Mary who’s welfare checks have been cut off because Precious told the social worker the truth about where her daughter lives and who impregnated her. To protect the baby, Precious runs out of her home that night and eventually moves into a halfway house where see continues to make significant progress. ...
I interviewed Judy Ann Meredith, my great aunt. Judy Ann was born September 11, 1951 in Corpus Christi, Texas to Florence Anna Meredith (Ritzman) and Carl Evers Meredith. Florence and Carl had to other children as well, Pamela (the eldest) and Stephen (the youngest). Judy was the middle child, and teases that Steve was “the favorite child.” Judy has lived in over five states, and attended more than 6 schools! Judy and her family traveled a lot due to her father’s occupation as as soldier in the United States Army.
her life has been ruined due to one mistake and how she has become an
Amazingly, Shannon survived with her mental health intact. She went to college where she excelled. She eventually became a senior manager in a store near her home. However, as an adult she suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome with flashbacks and nightmares from which she seems unable to escape. Her years of stress and abuse have taken a toll on her physical health as well and she is plagued by several issues that will likely be with her for the rest of her life.
There Adrianna lays on her bed in the pristine August morning; where just three years ago her husband cheated on her. She’s been heart broken ever since and just like anyone else, she planned to have a life with her ex husband, Chad, but that dream soon came tumbling down very quickly when she found out he'd been having an affair with another women for a year. Also, she doesn't trust any man anymore let alone anyone. Well, she’s fine by herself; at least lately she's believed that.
Devastated by the loss of their sons, the couple took solace in the fact that they still had their baby girl. Eventually, the girl’s health improved, and she grew up to be beautiful and healthy. Although the parents never mentioned her brothers, the girl finally discovered their existence when she overheard the neighbors blaming her for her brother’s plight.
Oprah Winfrey moved back and forth between her mother, father, and grandmother while growing up. Oprah was born in Mississippi in 1954. She lived on a farm with her grandparents. Her parents got into a divorce( Kramer 6). When Oprah was 13 she moved to her dad's house. her dad could not take care of Oprah (Kramer 10). Her dad gave Oprah to her mom. Oprah ran away from home for one week before she came home. A few years later she got abused from her cousin, uncle, and a close family friend ( Kramer 11). Oprah had many struggles while growing up like moving a lot and getting abused.
As soon as Carrie left her retirement party, she drove home only to find an empty house. She has three children named Michael, Maria, and Brad. Out of all days her husband and children weren’t home, she reminded them to make sure they could see her right after the party. The house felt cold and unwelcoming for once. Her husband John was usually home everyday. John was already retired from his real estate company so Carrie questioned why he wasn’t there on the say she wanted to see him the most. As for her children, Michael and Brad are married with a family of their own but her precious Maria is finishing graduate school in Colorado for
...it as long as she could. She did not want to go through treatments. She was found dead in the nurses’ station on the fifth floor of the hospital. She hung herself with an extension cord. The note found in her pocket said, “I hope a cure is on its way for those that are still here.” She left through the chute that I now walk through. Michelle and Shirley became ill shortly after that. They tried the traditional treatments and then the experimental treatments. They were not strong enough to make it, and died while having surgery. I am one of the lucky ones. I am still here. I have seen too much death for one person. I am still glad that I took this job years ago, but as I walk down the hill I know that my life will never be the same. I get into my car and never look back. I hope someday that they make a memorial of this place in honor of lives lost.