Personal Narrative Essay : Growing Up In My Family

For the past seventeen years of my life minus a few months, I have lived in the United States. I grew up skiing and bicycling in Grand Rapids, Michigan, until my family decided to move all the way out west to Flagstaff, Arizona. Many eleven-year-olds might become stubborn and defensive in response to such a massive, life-changing move, but I remember embracing it because I was with my family, and I was ready to face any obstacle that unveiled itself to me because I knew that my late comedic father, my worrisome mother, and my troublesome brother would be right by my side. As we made the two-day drive from Michigan to Arizona in our SUV together, we watched the numbers on the odometer crawl up more and more until there were 2,000 more miles on the car than there were when we started, and we

Growing up my dad didn't have the best childhood. Even with a rough childhood my dad still succeeded in life. He got a good job and started a family. When ever we ask him why he sacrifices so much for us he simply says,"I want to give you a better life than I had". My dad has given me the best life I could have ever asked for.

Even tho many are lucky to have their parents together and grow up in one family that was altogether, I was lucky to grow in a divorced family and I say lucky because I have become stronger because of this situation and even tho I have become stronger, I have also learned to cut off the slack off myself. I grew up with 3 older male siblings and we were not the type to get along and share, some of us would help each other and the older tell the younger how to survive through different circumstances but I was left out.

This is the typical response I get when I reveal to someone that there are ten kids in my family. When the shock subsides I am always bombarded with the same questions. "The same two parents? How big is your house? How many bedrooms are there? Are there any twins?" and more importantly, "How many bathrooms does your house have?" My personal favorite is, "Can you say all your siblings'

Growing up was awesome in my household even though my family and I would do extravagant activities. I was automatically a American citizen when I was born because my father is retired from the US Navy. When I was about three years old, we all moved to the United States of American. The first state that we lived was San Diego, California. We spent almost fours year in California before moving to La Porte, Indiana. It was easier for me to adapt and make friends in California because a lot of the people in that state are diverse in ethnicity. Also the Filipinos has a high living population in California, especially in San Diego. Most of my friends when I lived in California were my classmates in Mason Elementary School. It was not rare for me to find Filipinos in San Diego but, when I moved to Indiana it felt like a surprise when I encounter a Filipino here in Indiana. The only real friend that I had in California were my cousins. We would always come to each others homes every day. Most of the times we were together we would spend most of the time playing outdoor activities. One of our favorite outdoor activity is playing basketball or baseball.

Growing up I had two step moms that didn’t stay permanently; to me my father was all I had. My dad was my role model and my hero, and once he went to prison I was left very confused on how this could happen. At this point in my life I felt alone and like there was no one who wanted me. I was left devastated and received counseling for months. Eventually I started to come to terms with my situation.

I cannot say that growing up in the family I am in hasn't been difficult for me, because it has. However, to say that it is something I'd like to change if I could, I also cannot say. The turbulence and commotion I have experienced has sculpted my character. Had I not grown up the way I did, I would not be as tenacious and ambitious as I am today. Through the struggles I've faced and whom I've faced them with, I have not let them define me, and I have even grown more because of them.

My mother agreed to let me live with him because she wanted to start truck driving with her new husband and she knew she could not support a child while truck driving. The experiences that I have lived through because of my mother and her side of the family will forever leave a mark on me. When I was younger I would wake up in the middle of the night due to night terrors and my father would have to hold me tight to get me to calm down, I was traumatized and felt unwanted because of my unstable life with my mother.

When I was little i had to move to Mexico with aunties My mom was with me. She was like a dad to me too. She was always there for me. we moved to a scary place were not that many people live. My mom and me lived with my aunties me and my cousins would always fight. My mom would always be stressed because I would always fight with them. Even though i would always fight with them We were still really close. We would look after each other all the time. If one of us was in trouble we would help each other out and fix the problem together.

As I endured the prospect of creating a genogram, I allowed myself to reflect and interpret the history and impacts that affected my family. During my review of my genogram, I was able to consider my family within a multigenerational, diverse, and socio-political context. By creating a genogram, a dialogue was started within my head and with my partner about which family traits, issues, strengths, and resiliencies made me who I am today. Subsequently, this dialogue made me aware that being raised in a small family has many advantages along with some disadvantages when acquiring information about influences and the history of preceding generations. Consequently, I did not have to contend with many conflicting recollections but I did have to rely mostly on my own memory, public records, and journals to piece together my genogram. Although all things discovered and recollected are not always fortunate on the surface, they subsist as basis to my personal resilience and strength as a gay man.

In that time, I never really knew what happened. I would always question my mom but she told that he had business to take care of. But one night, I saw my mom crying and I went to comfort her only to see she was holding a picture of my dad. Then, I connected all the pieces together and finally figured it out. I never got to spend time with him since he was always on business trips, and now I never will. After my dad died, my mom changed. She was more controlling over me than ever and hovering me most of the time. I knew why though, she didn’t want to lose me the way she did with dad. That’s why I don’t complain that much because I know inside she still misses him and I do

Growing up with a father that was never around and a father figure that also left was hard, but it taught me that I don’t need a father to rely on. I have myself and my mom, and as long as I don’t forget who I am I

My parents got divorced when I was just four years old. Ever since then my parents have been aparted from each other and it was rough growing up with them when they were fighting continuously on who will get custody of both my brother and I. A short year after the separation my dad met a girl named Shannon and they fell in love. My mom on the other hand was still only focusing on trying to get custody of us kids. Not that my dad wasn't focusing on that as well. Now I am going to tell you my life living with my dad and his new girlfriend and kids. I will also explain how the divorce impacted my life in a negative and positive way.

For a really long time they tried to have a baby together but couldn’t. My stepmom did get pregnant eventually. I was so excited to have another little brother or sister, but things took a turn for the worse. It ended up being a miscarriage. This made everyone very sad and I guess my stepmom couldn’t cope with the grief so she left my dad behind. After that my dad fell into a deep, winding, well of depression.

During my childhood waking up early in the morning was one of my favorite things,especially during the summer.I remember waking up one morning to the sound of spongebob on my T.V..Almost as soon as I opened my eyes I immediately got out of bed and ran into the kitchen to find bacon on the table.I shoved two whole peices straight into my mouth and I swear that it was some of the best I have ever had.I sat down in my wooden chairto eat more off of the table.As I finished I remember looking ouside to a bright day.The suns rays hit the dew on the grass just right to make it glisten.