My Journey Of Life

My childhood was a happy one, for a moment at least. The first seven years of my life had gone by in a flash living in Bear, Delaware. I don’t know if I had so much fun that somehow, I transported myself into the future. The next thing I knew my family along with the new addition of my younger brother Ethan was moving to Powder Springs, Georgia. This tendency to stop and look at my existence at specific points in my life continued through 6th grade with the family moving again to Dallas, Georgia. Fast forward a few years after 8th grade my family and I moved for the last time to West Chester, Pennsylvania. I have moved a lot and it caused a lot of stress and uncertainty but I don’t regret it for a second, because from this constantly winding journey I learned one important lesson. There are challenges and obstacles everywhere you go but your reaction to the situation will decide how successful you will be in life.

Everyone says things come and go so don't stress so much about what you can't control.

I grew up in a remote rural village in Rift valley-Kenya, my family and friends expected me to join the Kenyan police like most of my relatives, but my life would follow rather a different course. Unfortunately, in 2012 my father died of meningitis. It was hard watching him in a hospital transition from a strong man to a mere shadow of what he once was. The most prominent memory I have is when one night, the hospital machine began beeping louder and louder as my father laid comatose in his bed. I knew something was wrong and rushed to the nurse station, but no one was there. I looked around in the hallway, but my search was in vain. When I went back to my father’s bed, it was already too late. He was gone. I was deeply affected by his passing and felt like I was now the surviving father of my family and had to soldier on to comfort my siblings. Desperate, I turned to God for answers. I needed to know of God’s love and my spirituality became a guiding force that brought peace and happiness in my life. I became a youth pastor and a Sunday school teacher for a local church in Kenya, a role in which I acquired leadership skills and a gained a better understanding of the western medicine. Due to those tough times and other instances of medical neglect in my village, I generated a deep desire to help my fellow villagers thence began my life-long pursuit to become a physician.

At this point in my life, the last thing I expected to do was to have the courage to follow my lifelong dream of being in the healthcare profession as an Occupational Therapist Assistant. But, a heartfelt presence remained within me when I first became introduced to this field as a young woman working at a hospital. There was also a calling to assist individuals and contribute to their care and recovery in their daily lives that persisted throughout my life. Being in a position of making a difference in the lives of others is an extraordinary privilege that I do not take for granted. The dream of being part of this profession was put on hold but never forgotten, when my educational pursuits led me in another direction as an Elementary School Teacher where helping at risk students reach their fullest potential intellectually, emotionally, physically, and socially was both challenging and rewarding. My career for the past 8 years has been that of a Certified Elementary Teacher with a specialization in Bilingual Education in Spanish and English as a Second Language. I have been fortunate in this manner because I have taught underserved children in a lower socioeconomic school who are at risk of failing due to their classification of being English Language Learners. And for the past three years, I have enjoyed being the PreKindergarten Bilingual Teacher for these exceptional children and made lasting friendships with the staff and parents at this school.

My life has gone through many different stages. Each stage has taught me new lessons about myself and has shaped my way of viewing the world. The way I was raised by my parents has made me the person who I am today. I believe my life experiences have pointed to the path of being a teacher.

Wake up, eat, pasture the sheep, eat, and hit the hay. This was my routine for as long as I could remember and I was ok with that. Life was great just me and my fat sheep, that’s all I really needed and of course my cheese and milk . No one really came around because my kind is known to be wild savages and lawless, and there not completely wrong, I could never see eye to eye with anyone so it’s probably best that I lived solo. My home was a mountainous cave just right for my size. The rugged walls and hard floors to others might look uncomfortable but not to me, I was content as ever. Today started same as always I awoke and made my way out to the fields. The early morning rays of sun kissed the rolling hills and I stood still, captivated by the beauty. I took in the warmth that made the hair on my skin rise. I watched as two birds hovered in and out of trees singing a song of whistles on repeat. I made my way through the trees on the look for some more firewood with my sheep not far behind getting all chunky just for me. After hours out on the pasture I started to head home with my boughs on my shoulder and my sheep to the right of me. My day wasn’t over yet, I threw the wood in the cave and closed it up with the boulder I called a door. I took a seat and got to work milking my ewes and to be honest the job was pretty ew. I can’t complain though because that was my supper and man it tasted bomb. I finished all my chores and poked at the fire thinking that this day was

There is a point in every teenager’s life where they have to take a moment to sit there and think, if only for a moment, “Oh dear God, I’m an adult.” Some approach this point too early while others will have this epiphany too late. It all depends on what the person has gone through and the experiences they have had growing up. For me, I didn’t realize that I was growing up until I started my first job at a family fun center. Working in that rundown arcade, I hated it, yet it was honestly the beginning of what I would call my growing up phase. My family was the coddling sort, so there weren’t many times where I was allowed to go out and be around people who I didn’t know until I reached the age 16. First taste of freedom, first pay check, and the first feeling of legitimate pride for myself that I had, all of that led to me growing into a young woman as opposed to the little girl I once saw myself as. From then on, I started to develop a sense of responsibility and independence I loved.

When I was a child my father always came to me and told me a quote, but over the years I have changed it into my own and now I live by it everyday . “Tomorrow is a brand new day, and a gift from yesterday, if you’ve failed rise from your ashes and create your own path and leave a trail behind because you can not take others pathes to live your life, life is your adventure and what you make of it.” I have always loved life and the people that are in it, since i was a child i have had the biggest dreams of going and doing anything I wanted to be and that nothing was going to stop me. My success to that has been keeping to not only my quote but to my heart, and to succeed I have stuck to these things: being determined, encouraging others, and hardworking.

Almost nineteen years ago, I began the journey of life. Because I had a tumultuous beginning, I started learning lessons immediately. I was a premature baby and I had to fight to survive. My parents were unsure if I would make it. They wondered what kinds of problems I might have. After a time in the neonatal intensive care, I came home to a very supportive family. Because my parents were so grateful to have a child and they had their own difficult journey getting me here, they cherished every moment with me; thus, begins my life lessons.

College is coming to an end for me, and I now have to begin my journey in the real world. There have been many things that I’ve learned today that have helped groom me into what and who I strive to be in the near future. By being an athlete I had the opportunity to experience life a bit different from other college students. Being a student-athlete I was taught skills like critical thinking, immense problem-solving skills, original creativity, and well-rounded communication and ethical judgment. Although this wasn’t all taught to me on the court I strive to preserve these skills and make them apart of my daily routine during my journey.

My life started in a town called Troy in northern Ohio, on January the 30th in the year 1999 I was born in Miami Valley hospital. Having lived in Ohio for four years my parents decided that they are going to take a leap of faith and move down south to Oxford North Carolina. This decision changed a lot of things around in my life, no longer could we pile into the car and go to grandma’s house, or drive to a Walmart that was less than 5 miles away. We now lived in the “country” where everybody knows everyone and secrets spread faster than a wild fire. Growing up school was never a real challenge for me, I began elementary school at Stovall Shaw Elementary in Stovall North Carolina. Thankfully classes for me were never too challenging I was always able to do more than just get by. During my second grade year I met the teacher that not only taught me the course content, but also gave me life and moral lessons that every young child should be told. Mrs. Lyons or as I like to call her “MeMa”, played a significant role in the person I am today. I’ll never forget the day we were in class working on some math equations, and the way our class was set up there were two different sections of class. One for more advanced students and another for students who maybe needed a little more help. So, with that being said she put two different math equations on the board one more difficult than the other to account for the more advanced children in the class. I subconsciously begin to work on

“Flight attendants, we are ready for take-off” I heard the pilot say. I put away my computer and tell my family I love them, but I want to sleep because my flight was at 7:50 am. But I can’t sleep! I am about to leave my hometown to come to my new home, New York. I have never stayed in New York for more than two weeks; rather I have never traveled on the subway with thousands of people I don’t know sitting in a seat where millions have sat before me. I am tossing and turning in my chair, so I start to think. What will my new life have in store for me? Will, I become a stereo topical New Yorker or will I stay a Chicagoan? Will New York be my home? I was ready for this journey; ready to get off the plane, and make my own “personal New York.”

In my birth story, I was born in a house. I was supposed to be due later, but I came out early. My mom always tells me that I was ready to come out into the new world. I think one of the coolest parts of my birth story is that I was born in a house.

Jesus, in my life, is so much more than one thing. My journey through life has taught me new things about Jesus, and it began with my childhood. I grew up a Christian; going to church every Sunday and Wednesday was and is just part of my lifestyle. Being brought up in that environment is a blessing but also has its challenges. When I was a little kid I thought of Jesus as just someone we talked about on Sunday, I didn’t fully understand who he was outside of the bible videos we watched and when my mom and I prayed to Him each night. As I got older I began to really think about this person who my teachers said died for me and loves me more than anyone else. There was a point in my life where I really had to decide if I would commit my life to Jesus; not because people had told me He was real, but because I truly believed it in my heart. There is a story in Luke 18:15-16 where people began bringing the little children and babies to Jesus. The disciples tried to turn them away but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” This story was read right before one of my Sunday school teachers asked if any of us wanted to accept Jesus into our hearts. I raised my hand and that is when I really began my walk with Jesus on a personal level. This added yet another level to who Jesus is in my life. I learn lessons from Him every day

Midway along the journey of my life, I pause to find myself in a darkened office, for I had wandered off from the studious path. The cold piercing glow of my monitor against bloodshot eyes taunted them with just how exhausted they had become. Projects that never seemed to want to work, grew more dysfunctional with every fix. The continued fatigue drove the temptation of distraction. Gazing out the window of my study I began examining the parking lot across the street. I began watching a figure fumbling between the cars. My mind began wondering how I would ever get my work done, I began wondering just how long I had until the sun 's unwelcome glow would fill my peripheral vision while I continued to clack away against a futile assortment of code. A loud wailing of a car siren, focuses me. Again out the window I see the figure now in a car with the alarms blaring. I watch intently waiting for them to shut off, they don 't. I stare blankly as the car starts driving down the nearby alley, horns echoing solely in the night. Listening while the horns become quieter and further away. I can tell what street they are headed down and I think of what I should do. Grabbing my phone, then second guessing myself. Staring at it waiting for it to call someone who can do something. After blindly observing my phone for what seemed like hours, I begin to realize it is too late to do anything. Before I know it my head lay on my desk. I keep telling myself that if I only close my eyes for a