Greatest Gift Ever-rough draft I’ve moved around quite a bit growing up. I had felt tossed around like some burden people wanted off their shoulders. In the beginning I lived with my biological family, at first we were what i’d call a normal average family. My father and mother were in love and had three children; i have one brother and one sister. Mom was a stay home mom and dad worked like the stereotyped Father.i can still remember how it used to be. We all used to be so happy when our dad came home to see us. Later, about when i was six years old or so it changed. Dad became stressed and started drinking and smoking more; mom gradually got sicker. My dad became a security guard. Eventually we were so poor that my dad could not even feed …show more content…
Teachers were worried, family members i never knew were getting calls, and social workers came in once in awhile to speak with us. My dad got scared so he sent us away to stay with other family members until he could get his act together. My sister and i moved to florida to stay with our cousin Nelda, her husband Terry, and their three kids Arin, Avery, and Adlen. My brother was sent to stay with my our cousin stephen and his husband david. My younger siblings had it harder than i did; they did not understand. We only stayed for like six months then we were taken back to our parents. My experience living there was like staying in a mansion. Except it was only a small house. My brother said he felt like he was staying in an apartment with a bunch of dudes, because stephen and david always allowed other men to live there until they got back on their feet. On christmas we all went back home to mom and dad except they acted like they did not want us back. That had to be one of the hardest things is ever experienced; rejection by someone you love so much. A week …show more content…
My brother and sister became distant and would no longer talk and be all out going like usual. That’s when i decided to get change for us. I started to share what was happening to staff at my school to get the social workers rolling again and find some ways of getting out of there. That’s when more physical abuse came about to me and my siblings. I don’t know how it got to that point, but I forgive them. We are all human and make terrible choices. In order to get away from that i begged my uncle and grandmother to take us just for a little while. I did not even know who i was asking for help from at that point. When they arrived to pick us up my dad was sound asleep. We stayed there for only maybe two months all together. There i realized what kind of place my sister actually lived in all that time. Turns out my uncle and grandmother were crazy. I can’t believe my sister never told me what had happened to her while she was in that house, but i try to be understanding any how. Then once we moved home i witnessed my mother’s death one night while my dad was at work; and i ended up getting taken by the police along with luke(my brother) and angela. We were accepted into a family i’ve never even met before. The place was terrifying, but at
When I was a child I thought everybody’s family would be the same, just your average family like mine and yours. My life as a child was a carefree life, I didn’t care for much, except stuff like doctors or dentist, I’ve done pretty much what an average kid did, I thought we had a good life going. When I went to my classmate’s house or meet their family they seemed like they were average to me. I never thought about how us as a family would have any trouble in the world, I was wrong.
I felt embarrassed. I wasn’t doing anything out of the blue, I was doing what I had done everyday. At this point, I had knew things were getting pretty bad. My parents continued arguing everyday over financial issues and as to why the house was dirty, and everyday it got worse.
In the result of her brother and father near death from a car wreck, my mother had to stay strong for all the siblings and family. The grief across the family was already bad enough and it wouldn’t have gotten better if it wasn’t for my mom getting mentally strong for everybody and keeping hope. It ended up her dad being fine but as for her brother it would've been a miracle if he lived due to the accident. After his rehabilitation and him getting better the family felt great but no one thought it could’ve gotten worse. Since the car was smashed her brothers head and left him with brain problems, Charles (her brother) forgot who the family was. The doctor and the whole family went through a long process of teaching Charles who they were. Eventually he remembered everything except for everything that had happened 2 years before the car crash. This was an experience that the family was not ready for at all and luckily my mom stayed strong for
Their house was very unfamiliar, it did not feel like home nor provided the sense of security that I needed at the time, and to be honest I broke down the first couple of weeks because the atmosphere that I would feel around the house was quite strange and unwelcoming. The fact that I did not have my parents with me made me feel miserable and vulnerable, I never experienced those feelings inside of me, I did not how to react, and the only solution I found practical was to shut down my emotions. Do not misunderstand me, I would talk to my parents on the phone every day, but as you may know it is not the same as to interact with them physically, and to have them in front of you. Before moving in with my uncles, I guess I did not realize how valuable my parents were to me, I thought I was independent from them, since, until that point, I was able to manage my problems by myself without needing their
When I was younger, I remember feeling as though I lived in a bubble; my life was perfect. I had an extremely caring and compassionate mother, two older siblings to look out for me, a loving grandmother who would bake never ending sweets and more toys than any child could ever realistically play with. But as I grew up my world started to change. My sister developed asthma, my mother became sick with cancer and at the age of five, my disabled brother developed ear tumors and became deaf. As more and more problems were piled upon my single mother’s plate, I, the sweet, quiet, perfectly healthy child, was placed on the back burner. It was not as though my family did not love me; it was just that I was simply, not a priority.
Now that I am in the counseling program I have become aware of the dysfunctional family that I have grew up in. Growing up I remember my father was never around. There is a memory I will never forget it seems blurry but I remember my parents arguing and becoming angry. I went into a room and when I came out I saw my father’s hand bleeding. My mother was holding a kitchen knife and she had cut his hand. Since my father was hardly around we never had family trips or family time together. He would spend his weekends drinking or going out with his friends. I have another memory that stands out. I remember I was in the back seat of the car and my mom was dropping of my dad somewhere. They were arguing the whole way over there, once we got to the destination my dad got off and walked out. I can imagine this affected my mother as a woman because her needs were not being
My family had moved to Oregon when I was 7 into hunter’s run apartments and we moved AGAIN when I was 9 to SW Bonnie Meadow Ln, into a fairly nice house. Now, as older children do when they have younger siblings, I didn’t get much attention, but I did have many more responsibilities. Most of which were chores or keeping an eye on my brother, John, and my sister, Mikayla. Mikayla was by all means the closest to me at the time and John was just my younger brother whom my mother adored. Our relationships, however do change but that’s
My mom picked me up at the end of the day and I could tell by her body language that something was wrong. I asked and she began to cry hysterically and through her sobs I heard that my brother was moving to Ohio. I began to sob too because the person I felt closest to was leaving us and we had to hear it from someone else. When my brother got home he said something that tore a hole in my chest. When my mother asked, “Are you picking her over us, your family?” he responded “Yes.” I remember feeling as if I was going to faint. I remember thinking how could my brother choose her over us. This was a negative time in my life because my brother is the person I went to for everything and the thought of him leaving us broke my heart. During this negative time I had to build resilience. I did this by embracing change, being optimistic and creating a strong social network. To embrace change I sat down and thought about how my brother was feeling. I thought of how he must feel, he is leaving his whole life behind for a girl who it might not even work out with. I thought about how it impossible to things to always
On December 7, 2012, my sister demanded my attendance at a meeting with social services. In attendance was my sister, her daughter (Jessi), the baby’s dad, our mom, my sister’s probation officer, social worker and me. What I remember most from the meeting is the social worker turning to my sister and saying, “This little girl is not leaving with you. Or you” pointing to the father of the child. “Or you” pointing to my mom. The social worker then said, “Who is this little girl going home with?” My sister turned to me and replied to the social worker, “With my sister.” The social worker then asked me if that was okay with me. I couldn’t refuse. Once I walked out of the meeting, a light bulb went off in my head; I realized my mom and sister’s drug addictions were more important than this child. Like me, my grandparents couldn't refuse. It became their job to protect me when my own mom wasn't able, just as it became my job t...
There were people at my house going through my family’s belongings telling me what was worth keeping and what wasn’t. I felt like I couldn’t have my own opinion and if I shared my opinions, I would instantly be looked down on. I was in charge of my own things and had little to no say in anything else that happened. I wasn’t even allowed to go into my mom’s room to collect things that were special to her. I couldn’t even grab items of hers that would have comforted me while I was grieving. You could feel the tension throughout the whole house as we got closer and closer to getting everything packed up. We were all mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. Those emotions stuck around as we were welcomed into our new home. My siblings and I were introduced to new rules at our house and they were nothing like what we were used to. We had to eat as a family which was a new concept to us. We came from a divorced household where my mom was almost never home for dinner because she was working to support her kids. We were expected to get along and communicate with each other. I never felt connected to my legal guardians and that made simple tasks such as communicating, incredibly difficult. People were so happy about the situation and I didn’t understand why. I remember seeing the church bulletin announcing, “The Fruits family has grown by three! Welcome Michael, Sarah, and Rachel to the family”.
It had come to the attention of my family that I had some sort of psychological problem and something had to be done. I was always labeled as a shy and quiet kid, and like my family I had thought nothing more of my behavior. However, now it had become something more obvious. I had told my parents the kinds of problems I was having. Basically I didn't want to talk to anyone or to be anywhere near anyone I didn't know. I didn't really want to leave my house for any reason for fear that I might have to talk to someone. I was so critical and scrutinizing in relation to myself that I couldn't even enter into a conversation. Everyone seems to have a part of themselves that lends itself to thoughts of pessimism and failure, but mine was something that was in the forefront of my mind at all times. Something telling me that everything I did was a failure, and that anything I ever did would not succeed. Through discussion with my family it was decided that I should move out of my parents house to a place where I could find treatment and get a job. I was to reside with my sister Lisa, her partner Brynn, and their Saint Bernard in Greensboro.
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.
My parents had go to Switzerland the week after for the funeral and the family. We had school going on and my parents decided to leave us with friends and go by their own. I stayed at a very good friend of mine, and my sister at one hers. They left and, where going to stay there at least a week. The time I spent there was really hard. Not only because the most helpful people I could have been with where away but I kept on having flashbacks.
Growing up, I was raised by a single mom who gave birth to me while attending college which meant we didn’t have a lot. I still remember being woken up early in the morning by her and driven to my grandparents where they would watch me while she took on 2 shifts each day. Because of the amount of hours, she would work my grandparents took on the role of taking me to my school functions and sporting events. Although it was hard not always having my biggest fan there to cheer me on I knew inside that she would give anything to be there watching but someone had to put food on the table. We had to move quite often due to my mom’s job constantly relocating her to different branches. By the time, I had entered the 1st grade my mother and I were moving into our 5th residence in the Houston area. I was still in my adolescence so moving never seemed to bother me as long as I had my toys and a TV I was pretty content.
My older brother who was 6 at the time remembers the situation. To this point my brother has hate towards my dad because he actually remembers something him and he thought my dad would be the last person to let him down. My brother is now 21 and he still has the same feeling towards my dad. My mom remarried a few years later to my stepfather, but when she divorced him it affected my younger brother. When my mom divorced my stepfather my little brother became the worse little 5 years old. He would talk back to everyone and became angry at any little thing or person. This time the divorce had a different result. A social worker talked to every single one of us and thought we needed some therapy. My sisters and I had one therapist for the three of us. My brothers had their own therapist as well. My mom and stepfather had their separate therapist, never the same one. All our therapists weren’t in the same location so we were scheduled on different days and times. I didn 't understand the meaning of going to see a therapist if they didn’t help out at