Personal Narrative

As my experiences grew so did my family. Two more children joined Kai. My profession provided for my family and gave me great pride. However, I felt as though I had more to pursue. Even though I told myself I would never be able, I wanted to be a nurse and I wanted my children to see me graduate from college.

I have lived in only one location my entire life: Edwardsville, Illinois. A peripheral suburb of St. Louis, it stands as the rare oasis of people in a desert of corn, pinned in its own personal bubble. Due to this blend of time and isolation, I developed a natural familiarity with my hometown. But, throughout my childhood, I longed to break free from the confines of the bubble and venture outward. However, this changed last summer, as I walked through Richards Brickyard, our family heirloom, that my great-grandfather, Benjamin Richards, founded over 120 years ago. I felt these childlike sentiments slip away. The bubble that had surrounded me for so long began to vanish, and the picture that it had been obscuring was slowly revealed.

As a child, my parents had always pushed me to reach for my goals and go to school. My mom always made me promise to her, she didn’t care if I got married or had kids, but that I received a degree. And that’s exactly what I did. During my high school years, I dabbled with different subjects to figure out what I would enjoy doing the most as I got older. I believe happiness overcomes money. I would rather be happy than make a million dollars every year. So I sought to find a career that would make me happy. I landed on the medical field. Seeing people in misery shatters me, therefore I chose a career that would help me try and make a difference. I also chose this field to help my mother and provide her with the care she needs. My mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2008. After seeing this disease have negative tolls in her life, I promised myself I would always be there to help her in whatever way I can. My mother has always guided me and supported me through all my ups and downs in life, and without her I wouldn’t be up here right

During the summer of 2012, I thought, “What am I doing with my life?” I was cleaning houses and taking care of the elderly. I suddenly realized that my girls were older and my son was in kindergarten; it’s the perfect opportunity for me to accomplish my dream. So, I figured out my schedule so I would have plenty of time for work, school and my two youngest children. Finally, I thought to myself that I can go to school, get a degree, and maybe take my kids on vacation.

The night of December 9, 2011 was easily one of the worst of my life. It all started before I woke. At around 2:30 in the morning, my grandfather (Pepaw), who resided in Keyser, West Virginia, had fallen very ill. My step grandmother called my father to let him know that his father needed emergency surgery and asked him to travel to Keyser Hospital as soon as possible. After the first surgery was completed the doctors at the the Hospital determined that he needed an additional emergency surgery that they were not equipped to preform. At 5:30 A.M. he was Medevaced to Morgantown, West Virginia for the next surgery. After he arrived, the Morgantown Physicians assessed his vitals, and in consultation with the Keysers doctors, they determined that Pepaw was not strong enough to undergo the second

It's a Friday afternoon, I plan to go to Great Wolf Lodge in an hour with my church. I see one of my friends so he says to his mom “ Hey, that's my friend” I said “Crap” So I go inside to sign in to go and see my friends just sitting in a corner on a big sofa. We are listening to music and just talking then a green bus comes.

It is true in life that everything happens for a reason. It is also true to say that sometimes it is all about being in the right place, at the right time. There was never a more prominent example of this than a traumatic summers evening, only a few years ago.

Due to financial reasons, I was compelled to maintain a full-time job while working through my ADN program. Supporting a household, raising a daughter and maintaining a healthy marriage was not easy and it did place a toll on my grades. I was able to complete my Associates Degree with a decent GPA and moved on to undertake a Bachelor’s program. My work integrity, determination, and perseverance have guided me to a successful career. I am grateful for my family who supported me and encouraged me throughout my career. I want my children to look up to me and encourage them to follow their own dreams. I want my parents to realize the sacrifice they made to leave their family and life behind looking for better opportunities for us was not meaningless. In the next three years, I plan to finish my Master’s Degree and seek a job out in a cardiovascular surgical unit. Following a few years of experience, I plan to get involved with non-profit organizations and seek out opportunities to promote health and wellness in the community. I plan to continue advancing my profession by enrolling into a Ph.D. or in a post master

Everybody does not know at an early age, what they would like to be in life. Some of us need time to discover our gift, passion or destiny. I’m one of them. After two careers and struggling the idea of want to do my remaining time on earth, the decision was made to start a third career, that had substance and geared toward building a better place to rear my children.

People often think of language as a connector, something that brings people together by helping them share experiences, feelings, ideas, etc. We, however, are interested in how language sets people apart. Start with the peculiarities of your own personal language—the voice you use when speaking most intimately to yourself, the vocabulary that spills out when you're startled, or special phrases and gestures that no one else seems to use or even understand—and tell us how your language makes you unique. You may want to think about subtle riffs or idiosyncrasies based on cadence, rhythm, rhyme, or (mis)pronunciation.

It was near the end of my 8th grade school year, about 2 month away from graduation, when something I never expected to happen actually happened. This event really changed my life forever and shaped me into who I am as a person today. I had just arrived at my house after school when my parents received a call that my grandma was ill and that we should come down to check on her. As we rushed down to my grandparents house, my family was deeply concerned about what may have happened because my grandma had never really had many health issues before this. As we arrived at their house and walked through the door, we were greeted with the sight of my grandma sitting in a chair with a blanket around her while she was sleeping. My family’s first reaction

For the first ten years of my life, I had a very normal childhood. I went to a private catholic school in a small town called Westwego. We were about twenty five minutes south of New Orleans. During the summers, friends and family would come over to our house and we would all swim and boil seafood. The summer of 2005 was no different; I was looking forward to entering 5th grade. Fast forward to one week before school is about to start when Hurricane Katrina formed in the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricanes were no strangers to us as we have been through several throughout the years. However, a few days later the storm is upgraded to a Category 3 and is predicted to hit New Orleans dead on. My parents felt it was time for us to leave and we traveled

In 1987, I made the decision to change my career path after years of pain and loss of my children. By the time I was 18 years

My life began in Manhattan, New York in January of the year 1977. I was born to a 21 year old Irish American mother, Catherine Cunningham, and a 60 year old Sicilian American father, Anthony Perniciaro. My parents came from very different backgrounds. My mother’s family was relatively wealthy and affluent. My father was born and raised in Brooklyn. His parents were extremely poor immigrants that were seriously affected by the Great Depression. My father was a bricklayer and an artist when he met my mother, who was just starting her life, being only a few years out of high school.

Racing at night going One-hundred and forty miles an hour on US-27 holding the lead, Shift six gear, speed topped out at two-hundred miles per hour passing by cars smoothly. I chanted I am immortal, I am a god! while I pushed my sports bike to its limit. Suddenly a black car approaches. WHAM! I get Rammed from behind and lose control of my bike slamming into a Semi-truck up ahead. Lights out. When I peeked my eyes, I saw 4 humans around me. Thump after thumb I believe I was in an ambulance rushing down the turnpike. I looked around and the first words that came to my head are “Rick this is just a dream”. This is the story of how I escaped from an illegal laboratory that clones and modifies humans.