Personal Narrative: How My Mom Changed My Life

My mom was recently going through a financial struggle. Her and her husband were going through a rough patch in their marriage, so they took a break. She was living alone and unemployed. I felt like I had a responsibility to help out since I'm the oldest child, but there wasn’t much I

My mother worked day and night so I had to care for my sister and cousins. On some occasions I had to help my mom clean houses to earn money. At the age of thirteen up until I was sixteen I was cleaning houses for the people we longed to be. I got a glimpse of a life I have never known. For the most part my mom’s boss was nice, but her family was ignorant at times. They would ask me where I have traveled and if I’ve been to all these kinds of expensive places. When I answered no they asked why not. I guess they didn’t comprehend the fact that my mom and I were cleaning their dishes and making their beds for less than the minimum wage to be able to barely afford the rent of the small room we all

The hospital isn’t there anymore due to John’s Hopkin’s buying them out, and they knocked it down. My mother is the only biological child from her mother. Although she does have three siblings from her father’s previous marriage. There were six people living in my mom’s childhood home. Unlike the other siblings, she got to have her own room because her two half-brothers shared a room. She and her half-sister got to have their own rooms in the house. The living conditions were superior than most of the other families on the street. My grandfather had just built the house for my grandmother so it was a brand new house for my mom. They also had an in-ground pool in the backyard, which my mom said was a huge plus. My mom got to follow her father around with the yard work and his chores around the house. Her mother didn’t make her help with the cooking or the cleaning of the house. She got to choose what she wanted to so around the house as long as she was helping. All of the children in the home went to private school throughout graduating from high school. My mother graduated from Seton High School which is now Seton Keough High School. My grandfather went to trade school to become a construction personal, and then he began to build houses for several companies, and her mom was a nurse (RN) at City hospital which now it’s Johns Hopkins Bayview. My mother didn’t follow in my grandmother’s footsteps, but she did go to college. Her first time she graduated with a degree in accounting, and then she went back to pursue her degree in teaching. My mom graduated college with her degree in teaching in 2012. My grandparents always push my mom to be her best, and they did that with every child that they had. My mother was in the beginning of the use of technology. She told me that they had television, but with no color. She also went through many cars throughout her

Being the oldest, I grew up with many responsibilities. I have always been the one to set the example, create the right path, and be the role model for my younger siblings. My single mother worked day and sometimes even nights to provide us all with what we needed, never failing to keep a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs, so she along with my brother and sister became my motivation to become the best I can be. I knew schooling would be an issue for us economically; there was no way my mother could ever help me pay and there was no way I would allow her to overwork herself. So I made the decision to leave home at the age of seventeen and move to Oregon. Becoming a resident of Oregon allows me to afford schooling at a much better cost, even if it means being so far away. It is very difficult being distant from my family, but I am doing this for them. Finally, I reached the moment in my life where I saw what was most important to me and it was to be the best I can be for my family.

From a very young age, I contended with countless setbacks, but the vitality placed on our income at home was the leading factor to my family’s problems. I remember when my parents chose to buy me a new pair of running shoes over paying the electricity bill or when they stayed up all night making tamales to sell so they could afford to pay for medical bills. There never went a month without my parents constantly arguing over the monthly rent or not having enough to buy groceries for the family. I grew up with five siblings in addition to two cousins who were sent from Mexico by their parents and placed under the legal guardianship of my parents. Naturally, learning to adapt to unfortunate circumstances was not rare and I quickly understood

What is your story? What kind of challenges did you overcome? There are things that happened to me that not many people really know about, I was abused by my older sister when I was a young child. But that didn’t make me a bad person, it made me a better one. I treat people with respect and kindness, I help my family with the things they need, and I take care of my brother. I still always make time for myself, to draw, to write, for anything really. But I wouldn’t be the same person I am today if these things didn’t happen.

She told me I needed to be the man of the house despite the fact, I was the second oldest. My older brother continued to struggle and get in trouble as he wrestled with his own demons. I didn’t have the luxury of doing what I wanted. I dropped many extra-curricular activities so I could be home to help my siblings with homework and dinner. Even to the extent that my going away to college was simply to encourage them to do the same when they finished high school.

As, we settled in Palatine, without a father in my life, I basically became a father and a caregiver to my brother and sister. Many days and nights, my Mother, had to go out and run some errands, there would never be anyone to babysit my siblings especially since money is so tight. I would be the one watching them, many times it could be for hours and other times it could be all day. They would often have seizures, which I learned how to take care of and learned how to distribute the emergency medication. Often, I would have to come home from school or practice and help make dinner, clean the house, or help get my brother and sister ready for bed. After doing all of these chores to help my Mother out , and i would still be able to crank out my homework, and still manage to get great grades, because I knew the importance of them. This has always been a stressful situation in my life. My life has made me a better person, everything has matured me, and made me a better person. All of this is a part of my identity/background , it's made me who I am, and prepared me for the life. I'm not the normal football jock, this is my

As the eldest of three kids, I am who I am because of my younger sister and brother. Coming from an immigrant family, my parents worked full time at their restaurant. They had to care for the customers, the finances, kitchen supplies, and food; money was their priority because that money was for me and my siblings. From the first day I started kindergarten, I was extremely independent. Everyday after I got off the school bus at approximately 2:45 PM, I walk home and eat a bowl of cereal. I studied completed my homework, and on the occasional times my dad was home, I asked him to correct my answers. All that changed two years later when my younger sister started her kindergarten year.

My mom was a single parent, that needed more support than she was receiving. My mother worked a full time job and she did not have much time to attend to my siblings and I. She left me in charge, a majority of the time, to take care of my younger sister. I had to do more chores than before. At times, I felt like I had more weight on my shoulders than I could handle. I never wanted to let my mom down. I always did exactly what she told me to do. My goal was to keep a smile on my mother’s face, if she said, Jump!” I said, “How high?” When Savannah left home, a lot of things changed. Not only did they change for the worse, but for the better.

My family’s dynamic played a significant role in my overall emotional development. I was reared in a single-family household with my mother, sister, and brother. My father was estranged as he abandoned our family when I was about twelve years old. Subsequently, my mother became extremely dependent upon me. She worked profusely as a result of a lack of financial support from my father and because I was the oldest it was my responsibility to assume the primary caregiver role. When my mother was at work I was solely responsible for taking care of my sibling. Often, in my family the expectation of the oldest child was to support and be an authoritative figure over the younger siblings. I often felt overwhelmed while taking care my younger siblings

I watched as the letters looped and formed my mother’s name on the line; beautiful and clear, the mess of lines were a paradox in and of themselves. I grew up as the oldest of five in a single parent household; my mom was my biggest inspiration even though, until I was six and started devouring books, I didn’t even know what the word meant. When I first started learning cursive in elementary, I aspired to be able to have a signature as unique as hers. I’d doodle my name all over my notebooks; my friends and I would practice signing each other’s hands and books for the day when we’d all inevitably find fame. Eventually, our names had a constant presence on each other’s belongings. When I got older and my mom went from a stay-at-home mom to someone who worked odd shifts and exhausting hours, her signature on our papers suddenly became rushed and lost

Growing up I watched my mom struggle with bills. She works a full-time job and a part-time job just to be able to set food on the table for myself and herself. I had to grow up or in other words I had to become mature and think differently. I knew my mother was trying to make time for me, but it was nearly impossible. I had a lot going on as a child. From swimming to dancing I always used to tell my mother

Although I cannot directly recall anything from this stage in my life, I can speculate based on pictures, stories, and how the rest of my life has gone that I was very well cared for and I formed a strong trust in my mother and father. My mom was a stay-at-home mom so she was always around to take care of me. She has told me that she didn’t see the point in having a job when most of that paycheck would just go into having strangers raise her children. I am thankful that my mom decided to stay with us as children;

My mother worked long hours to provide for me and my siblings. She worked as a cook at a local Somali restaurant. Since, my mother could not afford childcare I took on the responsibility to look after my younger brother and sister. My mother thought I was more responsible than my older sister, so I had to look after my younger