Moving on is easy but what you leave behind is what makes it hard. Once you get to a certain age in your life you know you have to move on sometime. I know times are hard but you have to push yourself toward what you really want in life even if it means moving away from what you love.…
I came from a poor, but close-knit, immigrant family that through luck and sacrifice rose to upper class too quickly. Almost a decade after amassing this mismanaged wealth, it was squandered and became the cause for many of the problems in the family, including drug dependency, abuse, and the total loss of unity that we enjoyed before the money came in faster than it could be spend. By the time I was 18, I joined the Air Force to carve my own path in life. In hindsight it’s clear now how fucked we were from the…
Unlike most people there was no single event that marked my transition into adulthood. For me, it was a series of events that led to my epiphany that my childhood was over.…
The person i chose to interview was my mother, and the topic we chose was how her and my dad met. My parents were born in california, not anywhere out of california or america. It was a nice sunny day where my mom was dying of boredom, so the best thing she thought of was to go outside and explore nature.…
Since I grew up in a family with an abusive father, my response to conflict differs from most people. My father resolved conflict by shouting, degrading, and often physically abusing the other person. My mother’s response to conflict was to try to settle a compromise or walk away until her own frustration was no longer there. I think based off the conflict responses I observed growing up, my responses are a mixture of my parents. When in an intense argument with someone, I attack their character and then silence them out. Family members play a big part in how we resolve conflicts, because a good portion of our lives begin by us spending time with and watching our relatives. We, as a society, adapt skills and mannerisms from those closest to…
Never in my outright life would I have fathomed life to have thrown me a curve ball like the one pitched at me in August of 2012. The person I once knew, Tammy, had gone missing until she found herself. The transition to a puny town from an immense city completely changed who I was. Let’s start from the beginning.…
When I was born, my family started to struggle with bills and payments. So we had to make a hard choice and to move from California all the way to Cresco. And I haven’t seen my family since I was a baby which, I have no memory of them and I haven’t seen them since we moved. I use to always think of my family or be listening to a song that reminds me of them. Then soon or later I started to cry and ask my mom about my family. And they would say “It takes time”.…
My family environment has influenced me a lot especially when my siblings were born. I am the oldest out of five, so I'm always look up to. I always had to make a good example and never show that I was scared. When my mom and stepdad had to work, I would take care of them until they came back while getting my schoolwork and practicing my instrument done too. I never really had a chance to be a kid, I always had to be a mother to my siblings. I would always wish for more time in the day for myself, Although watching them grow up from when they were small and started school for the first time made up for that loss time. I live up to a quote, "Be the master of your future, not the slave of your problems." My senior year I had to stop being…
I am the eldest of three to a school teacher and professional musician turned deli clerk. I grew up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Like most of my classmates, I qualified for free or reduced lunch. It is difficult for families to find any house to rent year-round, never mind a safe one. I remember in one house we weren’t allowed to jump, or run for fear the floor collapsing. I had classmates who didn’t have enough to eat; one of my best friends in middle school was a foster child whose mother struggled with addiction. I was among the few who, though poor, was well cared for and loved by my happily married parents. I believe that in a “civilized” society no one should have to struggle for the most basic necessities. At first, I was not…
I grew up in a decently well off family when it came to money. I did not have to worry about getting a job at a young age, but I was never handed everything in life. I had to work for it whether it be through chores or through owing money back for what I wanted to get. My father lost his job several times while I was growing up. This was because either a company was shutting down or because he would refuse to cheat in order to make money. This was hard on our family and because my mom was a pre-school teacher, there was not a lot of money coming into the house as I became older. I mentioned several times to my parents about getting a job and they were neither for it nor against it. If I wanted a job I could get one, if I did not want a…
" Hey kids we need to talk about something," mom says. My brother, and I look at each other strangely. Ethan asked "what do you need to talk to us about mom?" Divorce the legal dissolution of a marriage. This is what happened to my parents in August of 2009 they got divorced. It was a very big challenge for me to face. At first it was just a separation which happened in 2007 then slowly turned into a divorce. I was young so I did not understand a lot of it.…
I remember when they kicked us out. It was only a couple of weeks ago. We Indians were minding our own business when the troops first came. They dragged us out of our tents and sent us walking with only the clothes on our back. My family decided to go to the Oklahoma region along with our tribe. And so here we are, walking through forests, woods, and plains on The Trail of Tears, looking for our destination. We have been walking since, and our clothing can do nothing against the harsh rain, snow, and coldness.…
The disappearance of my dad changed everything. It all started with a phone call. The message, echoing in my ear like a gunshot, was clear: my dad will move to China without us. At the time my father did not tell me the exact reason for his departure, but I read recently in a magazine that he was escaping from a group of lobbying businessmen, or more specifically, a group of gangsters. He was gone for a year, and, my seemingly perfect life was completely destroyed. At least I thought that was the case just after my dad left us.The group of men who took my dad away from my family was not only after my dad, but they were also after my family. For safety issue, my entire family was forced out from the tranquil life that we used to have. The change in my life was so big that I thought I would never live through this transition.…
I don’t blame myself for what happened to my parents. I may not be the most buoyant about it, but who would be? Going through your high school years without complete parental support can end horribly in more ways than one. High school is the time when you need your parents the most; you are growing up, maturing, and starting your life. It can be hard to know where to start if you can’t even recognize where your parents have gotten in their lives.…
vWhen I was very little about three I had walked out the front door of my house. I had thought my mom had went outside because the front door was open but the screen door was shut. I was crying, so I went outside to find my mom. My neighbor had been outside, she saw me. My neighbor had come over, picked me up and brought me to the house.…