James Patterson Quote

My mother was diagnosed with a tumor in her abdomen. This took a tremendous toll on me over the course of the next year. I was regularly traveling from Dallas to San Antonio to be by her side and take her to appointments. Being an only child and my father working in Italy, I was her main support system. Family is everything to me. My mother is my everything. This sudden shift of my focus was reflected in my poor grades. I matured quickly during this time and learned to be successful with a rigorous academic course load. Most importantly, I learned to never give up when all hope seems

In the fall of 2012, my mother almost succumbed to her illness. I had just begun my freshman year of high school midst angry conversations between my parents and the threat of separation. It would seem as if they bickered about the most irrelevant things, almost as if they had no other reason to fight other than the fight itself. Those moments were excruciatingly lonely, my father worked until the dead of night and my mother would come home exhausted from treatment. I now know that there was no one who felt more unvalued than my mother. I wish I had the ability to iron away this blunder that destiny had fabricated, however foolish this desire is.

My mother became depressed, my father became disabled, and my brother was skipping school. I continued going to school from eight until four, which was a big relief in my life because it made me forget the hard times. My grades slowly began to decline, as well as my motivation. I gave up many opportunities such as attending New York’s number one specialized high school. I recognized my mistakes and was able to identify my failure. School was not the only place where I lacked interest in because I also slowly started to push my friends away. As a young teenager, I did not think I would ever make it to college. I became frustrated at my parents because my life was ruined and it was all their fault.

When I was 10 years old,my sister Jenelle died of brain cancer at 23 years old. I wanted to have a relationship with her and I knew that we could have had an amazing one. I wanted to grow older with her and my younger sister,as the group of friends that we all were. I have been diagnosed with depression at the start of highschool,and I was always deep down depressed not only with her passing,but with all the bullying that I had to face. Ever since I found a group of friends,I have been able to cope with my feelings and I have been successful. College was a hard transition for me managing all the time for myself and balancing the classes. Thankfully I have been doing alright,and I want to keep going so I can make my family proud.Lastly,instead of being a handful I feel like I can be

A few months into the school year I got some news from my parents that referred to my grandmother. She had an accident in her home that put her in critical condition. At this point my father rose to the occasion and began to watch after my grandmother, his mom. Taking care of my grandmother was not an easy task. She was constantly being moved in-between nursing homes and hospitals. She continuously had unstable vitamin levels and her body and was just in very poor physical condition. My father held on though, he was always by her side making sure she was okay. While my grandmother won’t ever fully recover, she is doing much better. It’s because of my father that she’s still alive today. I lost more of my innocence through all this but at the same time I learned that when things get bad, family takes care of one

After a valiant attempt of fighting cancer, my mother passed away. As for many before me, it was a difficult transition to endure. Yet, her words still resound in my soul. She told me to live my life without any regrets. There is only one area of my life that I regret. I regret not achieving my educational dreams, goals, potential. My transcript as the track record of my educational journey fails in comparison to my life journey. I am a responsible and hardworking person. I have worked for Grossmont Union High School District for over 27 years. I have been happily married for over 23 years with two sons in college. I have had the privilege of being the care provider for my family members. I am a survivor of my own medical issues and surgeries. I will continue to give all my energy to supporting my family, church and community. I have given “A” work in the classes that I have completed, since my freshman year. I have always put everyone else first in my life. If I could do it all over again, they would still be first. I have done a lot of things in my life. However, I have to do this for me. I am not just older, but healthier and wiser. If given the opportunity, I have to attain my

During my junior year, my grandmother, who raised me, passed. This news devastated me to the core because she had just gotten orthopedic surgery and was doing a lot better. I fell into a major depression. I bothered very little about my environment, even my academics. This caused me to miss major assignments in my advanced placement classes, bringing my cumulative GPA to a 2.75. It wasn’t until my senior year when I ultimately realized how childish I was being. I learned my future does depend on any person. Even though my was very instrumental in my life, she is gone now, and I must make something better of myself so I could live a comfortable life and make her

I always believed that things would just work out in the end. That I did not need to be wrapped up in over complicated situations because they would unravel themselves. I had this idea that I would grow up, go to college, and then get a job. My older brother Joseph had a similar idea. He started at the University of Dayton in August of 2015, but decided to come back home to our house in Bucks County at the end of October in 2015. His simple decision of “college wasn’t for me” had single handedly ripped me from my cozy reality that “everything works out” and had pitted my family against one another.

Despite the love and support of my family, I did succumb to making poor choices. I started hanging with the wrong group of friends, caring less about school, doing things the Lizmery now wouldn’t do. My perspective changed when I entered high school. I noticed how much of a rebel I had been with my family. I understood then, all the things that my mother had done and sacrificed to give my sister and me the world. I saw my sister earn her master's degree and buy a house. As the youngest, I had great role models in front of me. I knew that what I did in the next four years had to be drastic. I had to step outside of my comfort zone, leave the negative friends behind, and take my education

On January 5, 2009 my father pasted away. He and I did not have the typical father-son relationship; we did not have a relationship at all. I presumed that it would have a little if any affect on me. However, as the semester continued, it seemed to get worse. Besides my father’s passing, several weeks later my grandmother was diagnosed with dementia. It was difficult for me to deal with, but it was more difficult for my mother to handle.

When I was 11 years old, my father died. Not knowing what to do with that reality and the emotions that came with it, I turned to my mother. My mother has always been my rock, so I was confident that she would put this entire situation into perspective. She explained to me how my dad had been sick for a while, and how god did not want to see him suffer any longer, so he called my father home. When I attended the funeral, it occurred to me that this would be the last time I would see my father. As the time of grieving progressed, I grew unmotivated, uninterested, and depressed. In middle school, I joined an after school program called Teen Hype. Teen Hypes's goal was to empower youth to be their very best self. After joining this program, my

By the time I entered the third grade, my parents were divorced and my mom was diagnosed with bipolar, depression and I was diagnosed with ADHD. My mom has always stressed the importance of working for what I wanted. As a kid, I developed a strong passion for technology, which inspired me to come to the University of West Georgia to pursue Computer Science. My first semester here at the University, I found out through Facebook that one of aunts had passed away. I was devastated because I visited her before going off the school and even though she was in the hospital I thought that she was going to be okay. Also, I had already lost two of my other aunts the same year and they had all died three months apart. I didn’t want tell my mom that

When my father died, my life changed drastically, but I did not realize it yet. I was only eight years old; his death did not fully click, it had no affect on me. As I grew older, that is when it finally became apparent. The death of my father encouraged me to strive and stay driven when it came to reaching my goals and helping out other people. I became more focused on my education, on my future, and also on my family. I have always been told, I am a reflection of him and I surely wouldn't want to let him or my relatives down.

This left my mom with seven kids to raise by herself. Meaning one on one time was rare, because my mom is not a superhero and could not be in multiple places at one time. Grief left my family and I in a place where we did not know what to do, but we eventually got out of it, and continued on with our life. We always remembered the hard working parents we had, and the hard working mother we still had. I am resilient and got back on my feet and continued to attend school, graduated elementary school, and will soon graduate from high school. Although, I have gone through many difficulties it has made me work harder as an individual and choose my career choice at an early age. Being that I was very into the heart at a young age, and my father passing from a heart disease, I always knew I wanted to study cardiology, and will someday soon become a cardiologist.

From the end of November till the 21 of December my Grandpa was put into Hospice, or a at home nursing home to prepare your loved one for death. At this time I was trying to balance my studies as well as supporting my family morally and emotionally due to the tough times we were going through. During the week of exams, my father was rarely home because of his father nearing death. This led me and my mom to provide each other with dinner and help each other. Knowing about the struggles we were having, my two uncles which were my moms brothers came over to have dinner and help up set up our Christmas tree. It was December 20th when they came over which was the day before my grandpa passed. My mom mistook me for my uncle and said my grandpa was going to die that night or the next morning. I didn't realize she said this and didn't know they were hiding this from me. I came home from my exams the next day to see my father balling due to his death. Because of the mourning process I missed one day of exams and lost complete focus in school for a short time. After I came to the facts that he was dead I started to work harder than I have ever worked before. This led to me getting the best grades I had ever gotten in my high school career and they are still getting better. While getting over death is never fully obtainable, you have to learn to be able to live with the thoughts that run through your head daily about your deceased love one. I