My Family Has Changed My Life

I never truly thought about how my family had come to the United States. I assumed someone in my family, long ago, had decided that they wanted better for themselves and their family and had decided to come to the United States. It did not become a big deal for me until I found out that those people, who wanted better for themselves and their family, were my grandmother and grandfather. Up until then, I always took my citizenship for granted. I believed that being born in America was one of my natural rights that no one could take away when in reality it was a blessing and a privilege given to me by my grandmother and grandfather. I was born into a peaceful community, full of love and passion. Whereas my grandparents were born in a town

Being born in Yuma, Arizona and growing up in both Okinawa, Japan and Norman, Oklahoma has taught me a lot. I have learned how to not only make friends, but to adapt to my environment quickly as well. Being born in a Marine Corps family has made my life very cultured and more of an adventure than some kids should have. Growing up in different places has allowed me to mature quicker than many other kids around me. It has definitely shaped my life for the better and has taught me a lot about life. Some people may think that kids should have more of a stable home life, but my life was more of an ever changing situation than most people. Lots of people think if only I could go back in time and change something my life would be different or

Three rambunctious, energetic children. Two hardworking, loving but frequently exhausted parents. One girl amidst the ruckus attempting to complete her homework. Five years ago, my family symbolized this chaotic mess, however, change is upon us. Promptly that one girl turned into me, Hami Abebe, a resilient leader who checks those three little rascals tidy up their beds, eat their breakfast, grab their lunch and snacks and punctually leave for school in the morning. Subsequently, when they come home, I help them with their homework after this, they eat Mother’s delicious dinners, change into their pajamas, and say their prayers every night. Even though my parents leave for work at seven o’clock and come home exhausted at six o’clock, they still push themselves to their limits to care for us.

I would like you to imagine being in a country where your family has moved but you have never visited before. You do not speak the language. Every word you hear except from the small portion of your family is unfamiliar and confusing. There is no implicit definition for many of these syllables and even if there were, you would not know it, but this culture intrigues you. These people live a life like you have never seen.

When I was seven I moved to a new school where I didn’t know anyone. The first person I became friends with was a girl named Carly who was and is a great person although her ADHD sometimes made others misjudge her as annoying or weird. This misjudgment lasted well into middle school and even high school. We grew apart as we got older and moved in different directions, but we still hung out occasionally. And I still felt the connection between the two of us, it only made sense that I should remain friends with her, even if we didn’t talk often. So, when, in the 9th grade, someone whom I considered a friend started making fun of Carly, who wasn’t there, I wouldn’t stand for it. I calmly, yet admittedly assertively, told them that what they were

Four years ago I met a girl! That is what a teenage guy is supposed to do, right? Kelly (not her real name) and I have been friends for several years now, and I am proud of the relationship we have built. However, when I first met her, she was not in high school. Her mother had taken her out of high school for a year, because she was being severely bullied by other girls at school. When Kelly first shared her bullying experience with me I felt her pain deeply. I told her that I had been bullied too, when I was ten-years-old. Though Kelly never divulged to me the actual details of her experience, I was nonetheless willing to try and help her by sharing what I went through. I relived for her, my days in fifth grade, as I waited in line for recess. Two of my classmates made it their daily ritual to pull my hoodie off as proof that they could do whatever they wanted to me. Their intimidation tactics were regularly followed up with promises of things they might do to me once we reached the playground. Unobservable by teachers and staff at that point, I believed them.

Last year, a very close friend of mine and I lost contact. Anything that we may have shared before seemed to disappear and we are now no longer friends. To be completely honest, it sucked at first. It was one of the most difficult things I had to go through because this person was like a sibling to me. But it has been a year and I have had plenty of time to reflect. In this reflection, I have realized that even though it was hard, it was good for me. It was something that needed to happen, so I could move on and grow up and start a new chapter. I have learned so much more about myself and what I want and how I want to live my life than I ever could have when being friends with this person. And I am here to tell you that in every crappy situation you experience in life, something good will come out of it. It is

Upward Bound to me is not just a program; over the past four years it has become my family. The aid that my Upward Bound family has supplied me has helped more than I can express. I have succeeded in so many things academically, socially, and personally because of the resources Upward Bound has bestowed upon me. I will have sturdy platform entering into college because of help from my mentors because of this program.

First of all, being the eldest sister to my seven siblings is never easy. Having so many siblings is like your brain might explode because of the different variations of noise caused by them. Sometimes my parents cannot focus on just one child. This causes others to get jealous and increases the possibilities that one of us might get angry with each other. My life is

I Hazel see that I’m getting bullied from my friend Grace. Grace just thought that I was disrespectful and that I had to always be the right person and never wrong. So, Grace just acted like she like me but really, she talked bad about me behind my back. Grace says, “Hazel is always right she always puts me down when I’m hanging out with her.” I found out many months later that grace was talking rude, mean, and unkind, not the truth about me that I never did. I then had to decide to leave or be friends with grace. I wasn’t understanding the non-sense that closes friend at school did to me. So, I was thinking

When I was in kindergarten, I met my best friend. She was very shy at first and nothing about her seemed malicious. However, as the years went by, she became very imperious and unwilling to share anything, including friends. She wouldn’t allow me to befriend any other people without putting up a fight. However, she was allowed all the friends she pleased. Over the years she began to push everyone apart so that she was the common area between a bunch of enemies. Eventually, she and I began to argue over petty things and she would always make me feel as if I did something wrong. A massive argument then arose and I began to lose hope for our friendship because even though she was using me, I was oblivious at the time. The fight did separate us, and I was quite somber about the situation. However, this was when I realized all the things she had been doing wrong; all the things that I was better off without. The ending of our friendship for this period of time allowed me to reach this epiphany that I was my own person able to have my own friends, able to make my own decisions, able to be happy about my accomplishments. This sudden realization lifted the doleful weight from my shoulders, allowing me to become a much happier person with a new outlook on my life. Like I stated before, sometimes it takes us until we reach our lowest point to realize the journey that awaits, to regain the hope and strength that was lost

Many individuals go through change in their lives and everybody has a different way of dealing with them. Change can be good and beneficial to some people but to others it can really be difficult. Change has really allowed us to grow mentally, because we have gained new knowledge from experiencing new things. There are so many different changes that have taken place over the year such as new music, dances and advancements in technology, and we have all been able to learn and live with them. Another change that happens in life is to have to move to a new school or country, this change might be the most problematic for one to deal with since they might have to make new friends or even learn a new language. In life all of us go through various

In each country, everyone has different values, traditions, beliefs, social habits, expectations and customs by which he or she was raised. Most Asian countries use an authoritarian style to teach their children. The father in the household family; has more power and sets up family rules. In contrast to other Vietnamese people, my father‘s style is authoritative, and my mother’s style is permissive. Both my parent’s lifestyles have influenced my whole life development. I learned from my parents’ knowledge, values, beliefs, expectations and it passed on to me to present time until I am married and have children.

At the beginning of the semester, I learned a definition of the word family. It stated that a family is any parent-child relationship that cared for each other, that was committed to being in that relationship, and considered that group to be significantly attached. I am going to explore two theories and explain how I turned out the way I did, along with why my family functions the way it does. I will also reflect on things I have learned this past semester in this class.

Back in May of 2000, my family’s life changed forever. It all started when Chris, my father, went to work. While Chris was at work he noticed that he was having difficulties completing his daily tasks. During his daily tasks he had a hard time typing and his hand writing was all jittery. Due to these difficulties, Chris decided to tell his boss that he needed to leave early that day.