I was born on Wednesday July 26, 1978 and named Sherry Nicole Dickerson. My mother, a Caucasian woman named Donna, and my father, an African American man named Fred, were both only 21 years of age when I came into this world. With times changing, but still not there yet, their biracial relationship quickly dissipated after the birth of my sister only 14 months later. Growing up with a single mother who was just trying to raise her two children was not always easy, but it taught me many things. Moving place to place and even ending up in shelters at one point is a big part of my childhood memories. Two things that never wavered in those days were my love for music and my thirst for knowledge. Unfortunately tough times at home led me to dropping out in my 11th grade year, getting a job, and moving into my own …show more content…
I had found the party life quite exciting, and let that fill many of my nights and days. Besides being social, I always had a song in my heart, lyrics written on paper, and a mic in my hand. I loved to sing and did it whenever I could. Music however, did not pay the bills so I found a job in the Medical billing field around 2001 and quickly progressed to making great money. During all of this time I never went to get my GED. Honestly, I was having too much fun and making nice money at what I did to even consider the option. Once I hit my late 20’s I began to settle down some. You see, my sister now had three children of her own to raise and I was determined to make sure she had all the help she needed. I started realizing that many other things mattered besides just partying. I began to save my money and plan vacations for myself. I have traveled all over the United States over the years, and take at least two vacations a year. It doesn’t matter where I go I must be by the ocean at some point each year. This would be why California and Florida are among some of my favorite places to
My parents both grew up in a small south Georgia town called Pelham. My mother, Nancy, was the daughter of a farmer and a seamstress. She was the oldest of four girls. My father, Howard, was also the son of a farmer and a house wife. My dad was the ninth of eleven children. Mom and dad were high school sweethearts through out their high school days. They got married August 15, 1971. They will be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this next month.
Being the second oldest of eight children, there was never a dull moment in our house. Personality differences were common but the love we had for each other was obvious. With this being said, I am the only child out of those eight that has not only graduated high school but I am now working towards my Bachelor Degree in Elementary Education. We were a poor family and education was not on the top of the list of priorities. The first four of us were like stair-steps and seven years later came another set of stair-step children. My closest sister, Evie, was deaf and my mother sent us both to a school for the hearing impaired to ensure someone could communicate with her. I have fond memories of this school and the time Evie and I were able
Halfway through my sophomore year, my mom ran into some financial troubles. We had no choice, but to move away from my high school, and move in with my grandparents. After we moved, she didn’t have a job for over a year. I really didn’t want to switch schools. I was comfortable at my school and with my friends. My mother was willing to let me continue going there, even after we moved. I drove 30 minutes, everyday so I could go to school. It wasn’t easy, but it’s been worth it. I had to get up even earlier, I
As to be expected, I like anyone else, faced challenges at home that tested my academic abilities. In dealing with the emotional abuse of an alcoholic-bipolar mother, I persevered and did everything I could to prove I was better than the mother who was raising me.
I had to learn to adjust life without my sibling because my mom did not have enough money for them to be with us and adapt to a new culture. During this my mother and I ended up homeless during the winter months, this was the most brutal and embarrassing time of our life. In my teenage life I have overcome many obstacles; Even though we were living in poverty my mother had high expectation for her children and graduating from high school was just the beginning unfortunately I stumble again, I failed my Math Regent and did not graduate but I was determined not to be discouraged .
...ved to go on family trips. Our go to spot was Florida until the kids started to grow older, to about 12. That’s when we started taking trips to other countries. We had gone around Europe, Australia, a couple of countries in South America and Asia, and Morocco and South Africa. Mason and I also loved taking fishing and hunting trips to Canada and Colorado.
I have always grown up around the influence of hard work. My mother and father’s life together began off to a rough start. My mother got pregnant at the age of 20 with my brother. Her family was not very supportive of it; therefore, she was on her own. She used to tell me about how she would sit and cry in a one bedroom apartment that she lived in with my brother wondering what she was going to do. Although she had to grow up faster than she
financially, due to my father falling ill and as a kid I didn’t understand finances or the struggles
I didn’t have a lot growing up but I my parents made sure we always have what we needed. My mother and father always wanted me to get an engineer or a business degree. They wanted to be able to make more money and become more successful than they ever were. When I showed an interest in history and psychology in high school I knew they would be disappointed in me. I never cared about making money, I knew I wanted to be able to make a living doing something that I was passionate about. One day I hope to get my degree in social work and do just that. One of my favorite sayings is that if you enjoy what you do you will never work a day in your life written by Confucius.
I have to admit that I will not look fondly on my high school career. I spent most of my study time going out with my friends. I felt that I was paying my dues with the eight hours of boredom that began most of my days. Until now there were only a few classes that I enjoyed. In retrospect, I believe that it was my inability to choose the classes I took which resulted in my lack of enthusiasm on the ride to school each morning.
Growing up as an only child I made out pretty well. You almost can’t help but be spoiled by your parents in some way. And I must admit that I enjoyed it; my own room, T.V., computer, stereo, all the material possessions that I had. But there was one event in my life that would change the way that I looked at these things and realized that you can’t take these things for granted and that’s not what life is about.
Being a first generation college student and working with my mother majority of the days that I was not in school to allow me to have the opportunity for an American dream from a very young age only positively impacted me. It made me realize that no one is born a genius, but everyone has the potential for it and that is determined by what work you do with the potential. My circumstance has only stimulated me to be successful and challenge myself everyday to reach my full potential-then some.
With the early struggles I had in life, the one thing I learned is that nothing comes easy in life because if so no one would be living in poverty. The way my parents both work to give my brother and me a better life style was important because I would see the hustle they would do for us but I also felt bad. I appreciate all the effort my parents did and there sacrifices but by doing so, I felt I never had the chance to spend as much time with my parents as I wish. Especially with my father, in which every night will come late tired from work and wake up early the next day and repeat only to give us a roof over our head. I always wished for my father to attend to one of my orchestra performance back when I played the violin from the third grade to eighth grade. I would see many of peers with their family after the show while my father was working and never attended to any of my performances. These events during my childhood made me realize that when I grow to be a father in the future, I would do anything possible to attend to my kid’s school performance because it feels bad after the show when most families are united and yours is not together. Other childhood memories that were influncicial throughout the course of my life was the involvement of sports. Playing both basketball and soccer has taught me many life lesson especially discipline. Many other skills were learned from playing sports such as respect and social skills. Being active in these sports made me have a better understanding on how I should respect and benefiting the strengths of others and how I can grow to a better individual. The best thing about these experience is that when I was with my teammates and coaches, I felt like it was a family because we would always look out for each other and the coaches would always want the best for us give us life advice that would come useful. Inside and outside the field
I was born on a Monday morning at 5:33. Although my mother was not in labor for long, she did take her time getting to the hospital to give birth. I was born on April 23, 1984, the day after Easter as a Taurus. In general, Taurus’ are stubborn people and can bring harmony from chaos. Taurean women tend to be very maternal and go-getters who often get what they want. Like a Taurus, my birth was a stubborn one, well, I suppose my mother was the stubborn one. It was Easter Sunday, and my mother had guests over and was cooking a magnificent leg of lamb (she is the best cook I have ever met), which she planned to enjoy with her family and friends. It was during her day in the kitchen that she went into labor. As the labor pains struck, she continued to cook and prepare the meal she had been planning. My mother was not going to go to the hospital until she sat down with her guests to enjoy the holiday feast. After the dinner, she finally gave in and went to the hospital with my father. Maybe deep down, my mother knew I was stubborn, yet strong willed and would wait for her to finish what she had started.
Finally, I became more independent. I realized that in order to make it on my own, I needed to grow up. With the help of my parents, I learned to cook and clean. One can only eat junk food for so long before you start missing a real, homemade meal. Next, I got a job and started budgeting for my upcoming move. I also made living arrangements for both my sister and I in Miami, as well as, research what type of employment was available for high school graduates.