My Role Model Of My Mother

For the oral history project, I interviewed my grandmother. Her full name is Imelda Laborce, while she is known as “Meldy” to most family members. She was born in a small town called Calapacuan in the Zambales region of the Philippines. She was born in 1955 and is 61 years old. Like me, she was born in the Philippines but eventually moved to America sometime in her life. I believed she was a good candidate because I knew she was one of the earliest members of my family to travel to America. Hence, she must have good stories and have a rich background. I also never really knew anything about her past, so I just thought it would be interesting in general to learn about it. She currently lives in Union, New Jersey and works in a hospital as a nurse.

My sixty-year old grandmother, Helaine Bondar, conveniently lives in Baltimore, MD. This made the interview quite convenient, and we were able to sit down face-to-face on her dining room table chairs with a plate of cookies for the interview. "Bubby" as I call her, was born in New York City and lived there her entire youth. She only had one sister, Suzette, who still lives in New York City (my grandmother recalls at this time that my great-grandmother was very fond of French names.) When asked about her grandparents she reminisced on her days with "nanny" and "poppy," her maternal grandparents who practically raised her. She spoke about their personalities. Nanny was the bulldozer go-getter of the family, my grandmother said her favorite phrase was "my way or the highway." Poppy was more calm, and they balanced each other out perfectly. Bubby 's paternal grandparents were Anna and Sol Gross, and despite their close proximity-- they also lived in the Bronx -- Bubby just wasn’t as close with them.

Picking someone for this paper was much more difficult than the first one, at immediate thought the only people I knew over the age of 65 were my family members. I started to look into some of my friends’ parents but they were not quite there. Then it hit me, the perfect person to interview would be my friend that passed away in Dickinson, her grandmother. She is one of the most loving, caring, supportive grandparents I have ever met. I have always seen her from that stand point so interviewing her would only help me to understand how she became the way she is today.

For this project I interviewed my mom, Lynn Pasko. During the course of doing this project and going through the questions, it made me realize how much I didn’t know about my mother. It never occurred to me how times have changed and how different things are now. I learned a lot about my mother that I did not know. Some of these include how my mother moved schools every year of her schooling up until her last half of junior year. I couldn’t imagine having to go to a new school every year. Not to mention how many friends she lost contact with and how hard it was to be the new kid every year. Another thing that had really surprised me was the hardest that she had to do. The hardest thing my mother had to do was after 9/11 happened, she had to write goodbye letters to my sister and I in case anything had happened to them on their way to Hawaii. Both my mother and father thought about taking different planes just incase if something happened to one of them, the other would still be there for me and my sister.

My interviewee's name is Paula Anderson-Worts. She was born in Jamaica back in the 1960’s. However, Paula along with her parents relocated to Florida when she was two years old for an improved life, and in search of the American dream. When Paula started school, she was inspired to become a teacher, doctor, and a fashion designer. Although, all throughout her life people told her she can’t become all those things, she has to select one. Even though this may be true, she still insisted on her dreams. In addition, “she thought it would be unique to follow in her mother’s footsteps”.

For this assignment, I interviewed my grandmother. She was born in October of 1933, and she has lived in McMinnville, Tennessee for many decades. She is one of the few people I know who is old enough to remember it. Because of that, I chose to interview her over anyone else.

Growing up, I have always had to be a strong role model for my younger siblings. I learned to be modest, show them right from wrong, and offer my words of wisdom. It has been a goal of mine to be a strong role model throughout high school for my siblings, friends, and family. I had to keep my head up, even through my tough situations. In sixth grade, I received news that I had supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). SVT is a heart condition where I tend to have a faster heart rate than usual. My heart rate would go up to 280 beats per minute at times according to my heart monitor. My episodes consisted of my vision going completely black, my heart rate going up to irregular speeds, and it put a huge toll on my body. Hospital visits were a common thing for me before I had surgery, and I struggled in school due to the number of absences I had. It took about six months for numerous doctors to diagnose me, then send me to the children’s hospital in Milwaukee. I was part of the small percentage that got my episodes back after surgery. Throughout this journey, I learned to push through whatever life throws at me while keeping my head up. I never let anything stop me from doing what I love to do. I would always tell myself that there are people all over the world who have suffered more than I have.

After interviewing BT, I don’t necessarily see her from a different perspective. I realized there was a lot I still didn’t know about my grandma. Now that I’m older we have grown apart. Unless something out of the ordinary happens, we only get together eight to ten times a year. This interview helped me to gain a better understanding what makes her the person she is today.

Mrs. Anderson was excited to be interviewed and was sorry to see our time together come to completion. She is 79 years old and lives alone in a small house in Saco, Maine. She owns the two houses directly beside her that she rents to her daughter, son, and their families. She is a strong independent type who has traveled a fair amount in her lifetime. I will interview Mrs. Anderson about her life and divide the paper into three sections.

I was delighted and honored to carry out an interview with my 89 year old grandmother Marie Charles. It did not take much of an effort to establish a rapport with my interviewee; she was more than willing to open up to whomever that was willing to lend an open ear. Marie felt comfortable to share her life experiences with me, during the interview. Her demeanor exemplified one who is full of grace and compassionate towards others. Marie emigrated from Haiti and has been living in the United States for 45 years. She enjoyed her life experiences both within the states and in her native country of Haiti.

The fact that the interviewee grew up in a loving family justified some of the interviewee’s behaviors. Since his childhood, the interviewee was taught the importance of preserving his heritage. The fact that the interviewee’s father remained married to his mother until he died a few years ago seemed to be of great importance to the interviewee.

Similarly, in my culture gender norms were placed upon males needing to “man up,” and women were seen to be housewives. However, my grandmother wasn’t necessarily your average “house wife.” Indeed, she had children, and cooked for her husband but she also was provider as well. Like I mentioned before she worked at a fabric factory, but later applied to work for a hospital as maintenance. Here was a young mother of four stepping outside of the stereotypical norm to work and ensure stability for her family. Exposure to the workforce was very much embedded into the her children’s lives. Seeing both parents provide towards the household demonstrated a sense of equality among both male and female. As previously noted, my grandparents wanted their children to succeed in life so my grandfather always advised them to do more than he ever could. With money being low and my mom being the oldest she was forced to get a job at twelve. My grandfather helped her receive her first job working at a swat meet. With one child making some money, and two parents working they were able to save enough money to buy a house in the 1980’s.

In 1859 Henry Ward Beecher said, "the mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom." I believe that statement because of experiences I’ve had with my own mother. I have learned more about life from her than from my 15 years of schooling. Over the last 20 years my mother has taught me many valuable lessons just by being a living example of compassion, thoughtfulness, and generosity. She is an angel that has protected and carried me throughout life.

My grandmother, Esther Turner, has impacted my life in more ways than just simply being there for me, as a grandmother. She’s much more than that, in my eyes. Being the eldest of three, I’ve always taken on more responsibility as the older sister. It was my job to show my little brother and sister which paths were safe to take in this wild, confusing maze called life. At times, I felt like a mother myself, and at a young age, I found myself slightly intimidated by all the responsibilities that were laid on my shoulders. The main person I could talk to freely and openly, without judgment, was my grandmother. We have always been able to speak to each other about any and everything, nothing was off limits. That’s what I think brought us so close, the fact that she accepted me entirely for the person I presented to her.

A role model is someone who has a significant impact in your life. When people are asked who’s their role model, of the answers would say a celebrity or an athlete, but for me the answer is my mother. There are so many great qualities about her that motivates me to be a better person. For the past seventeen years of my life, she has been there for me in every way I can possibly think of. She’s my inspiration and motivation I look for when I need it. In the future, I want to be able to be there for her just like all those times she was there for me. She has so many great characteristics I’ve personally witnessed that has shaped me into the best version of myself.