My Life Of My Family

Unfortunately, it took me 10 years to finally get my life back on track after a messy marriage and struggling with being a mother of a special need child. By having no help, while my first

I was blessed with a happy childhood filled with good memories and a supporting group of family ,friends and teachers. However, by the time I was thirteen, I had constantly been getting into trouble in school and at home. I would get into unnecessary fights both on the playground and off. Texting has become the note-passing of twenty-First-century bullies and this was the way people treated me. At home, I would get into conflict with my parents because of the sad news of my grades. They cared about my future, but I didn’t. Growing up with an older brother who constantly did well in school made me feel inferior, isolated and lonely. It felt like my parents believed he would succeed, but that I wouldn't. Similar to the animated television series “Tom and Jerry” my parents would see my brother as Jerry, the innocent one, and me as Tom, the big cruel one.

I feel like family is one of the most predominant reasons for my character and choices. I have a large family with four step-siblings which are 23, 14, 9 (males), and 6 (female); I also have one adopted brother who is 23, two full brothers who are 17 and 16, and a half sister who is 2 and a half brother who is 1, therefore, at almost 20 I fall in the middle. However, I did not grow up with all of these siblings; I grew up as the oldest child and only girl. My mother has been married three times and my father has been married twice, so, in the midst of all of the marriages is where my family grew.

In the beginning there was a happy family with two sweet kids. This family is my family.

Hello and thanks for allowing me the opportunity to provide a bit of insight on my experiences of growing up as the oldest of five children.

I decided to do this over family because we all know at one point in time we have taken for granted the parents we have or the happy moments of family. Family is very important to me because I got experience so much because of them. My brother is a big part of my life, he helped me be the person I am. He coming into my life made it so I could see the world differently.

On the ceiling of my father’s room wall hung Albert Einstein's frame which had the inscription, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” Those words greatly inspired me as a teenager. Even in the most difficult moments, those words scream in my head not to give up. I grew up at a time or period in Nigeria when the military junta overthrew the civilian government. The political environment so tensed that it drove away investors. Consequently, the political instability created crippled the economy. The only people that benefited from the military government were their cronies. During this period, the popular middle class disappeared. The gap between the rich and the poor widened. Food shortage arose because the government stopped supporting the farmers through subsidies. Thus, it resulted in the inability of the head of families to provide three square meals for the family. The food scarcity affected my family as well. There were days I would walk long distances to school without eating. Also, on some days, I turned my hunger to fasting. I constantly improvised so I would not get discouraged. In all these, my father kept telling me, “My son, this is a phase in life we all have to go through, everything will be fine.” Despite the tough hurdles I had to cross growing up, I succeeded and became a role model to other teenagers in the neighborhood because of the moral and financial support from my parents, education

I come from a family of eight, two boys and four girls, of which I was the youngest. We had a Christian based home, where my father was strict but my mom was the nurturer in the family. My mother was an awesome woman, she had such inner, physical and spiritual strength, although both parents played a big part in our spiritual instruction, the memory of mom’s example of faithful prayer and dependence on God’s strength, impacted me the most.

I was four years old when my life started to go through tough situations in my life. My parents started to have problems all the time because my father was cheating on my mother. My mother and my father had many businesses together and one of them was a school from Pre-K until 12th grade in the Dominican Republic. I remembered that my father even had women at their own business and my mother could not stand that. As the years went by, I was six years old when my parents got divorce and my father left the house. When I saw my father leaving the house it was one of the toughest emotions that I have faced during my lifetime so far. My father used to come to my house and see him at my house was the happiest moment of my life, but just see him leave my house was one of the most depressing emotions going through my life. I used to not eat, watch TV, not going out to play with my friends and just stay sleeping at my house. My mother got really scared that she even had me with a psychologist to get me on track and see if I was going through depression or negative things.

I have so much to be thankful for in this world but, I think my family is the most important. Till this day I don’t think I could have made it day by day without my family. I believe my love for my family is important because they trust each other, support each other, and are always there to help when needed. I believe these four virtues of family suggest why my family resonates as the most important because of support, love, builds on shared memories, and reinforces responsibility.

I was born and raised in a peaceful and friendly part of Bridgeport, Connecticut, on the North End, right in the corner between Trumbull and Fairfield. My family dynamic has changed a bit in the past three years. I’ve lived with my mom, my maternal grandmother, and my older brother for as long as I could remember. My dad was just a phone call every other day, but since my grandmother died from bone cancer he lives with us now too. I have a mutual relationship with everyone in my family, but I mostly keep to myself.

To begin, my immediate family includes my mom, dad, and I. When I am asked about my family its hard not to include my extended family, because they are a huge part of my life. I didn’t just grow up with my parents I lived with my grandma, uncles, and cousins. The closeness there is in Hispanic families with extended family is something I take pride in. Growing up I would say my parents were part of the working class, and now they are part of the middle class. I’ve seen my parents reach that status with their hard work. I could honestly go on and on about my family, because to me they are my pride and joy.

My whole family lived in Edison, New Jersey and I only saw my dad, brother, grandmother, grandfather, and my mother during my childhood. My mother was the person who had always helped me stay on the track to success. I called my mother Ma as a toddler because, I followed my brother in every way. Our culture was to call our mother Mama, but we could say Ma for short. My brother, Michael, called mother, Ma, and so I caught on. Ma was a hardworking, positive, and helpful parent. She wanted me to have a great future and has kept pushing me throughout the years of my life. The most important years Ma helped me through to become who I am was through the child years.

We were hungry, thirsty, dirty, and alone. When I was merely a toddler I had four step siblings, two brothers and two sisters. We had a mom that went out to date all the time and make new children. Most of our fathers were bums, living in the streets. As we go back to the story, my mother was not coming home after a long while. My brothers and I had dirty diapers, whereas my sisters were six and seven then, so they had no need for diapers, although we all were very hungry. Finally my sisters decided to visit their friend’s house from school and when the child’s mother saw what condition we were in, she fed us and cleaned us. Later the government separated us all and we all lived at each of our grandparents’ houses. This was at the same time I started school in kindergarten. During those first weeks there, I was diagnosed as having severe ADHD and this would affect me a lot at school, and with others.

I was born in Mexico, and raised in a Christian environment, where some of my uncles and aunts are pastors, and most of my family members serve at church. I am the youngest of two brothers and a sister. My mom used to take us to church since I remember.