Personal Narrative: Laredo

As a Texas-born, Texas-raised, small town girl, I lack the words to explain what role my hometown and the state of Texas has played in creating the person I am today. I will say, though, that I have all intentions of paying it giving back to my community by furthering Texas scientifically and medically through research, and caretaking for Texans as soon as I have the chance, starting at Texas A&M University this fall.

Before my big move to Houston about three years ago for college, it was my last summer back home in a little city called Amarillo, which is considered “West Texas,” although it’s actually located geographically north within the heart of the Texas Panhandle. I was enjoying every last bits of the time that I’ve had left with my friends and family. The last thing I could think of worrying about during that summer was a romantic relationship. My intentions were to make bittersweet memories and to have what they would call, fun. I went out almost every single weekend for the first month of my last summer and met tons of friends and I became closer to old casual friends. Within that first month of consistently going out and hanging out with all these friends that I became close to, I met a very sweet, charming, and interesting guy named Andy. Something about him caught my attention. He was silly and funny without even trying, so I took an interest in him. We started messaging each other on Facebook then texting and making polite conversations. Before I knew it, this was the starting point to a whole new friendship. When he first messaged me, as much as I hesitated to respond to him because I knew I was moving and I did not want to develop feelings just leave everything behind, I wanted to not just respond but to strike more conversations. I became curious about him and I wanted to find out more and more.

I did not know anybody. The closest person that I knew was a six hour drive away, not even in the same state as me. The day that I moved to Texas was the day that I left my sense of security behind – everything I had ever known was taken from me, and having no say in this discouraged and frustrated me. Being part of an expat family accustomed me to moving, but this time it was different. The transition from living in Qatar to living in Texas physically and mentally exhausted me, but, with the right skills and resources, I was eventually able to overcome it.

I grew up in a city named Colorado City, TX – the city is located in Central West Texas. I had a really good friend, that I became best friends with, named Daniel. We went riding our bikes everywhere around this little town, scraping our knees on concrete and crashing our bikes on practically everything (since there was practically nothing to do in this town – this was before the 3M Palace Theatre was reopened).

“Don’t stop, keep going because something great is waiting for us on the other side,” my mother kept reminding me while crossing the desert. Crossing the desert to come to the United States was the hardest thing I had to. This was not optional; it was necessary if we wanted to survive. Crossing the desert is challenging, scary, and tiring

My story actually begins here in El Paso and has continued its course here as well. I was born and raised in El Paso and have been living here ever since. The most further back I can remebr of my child hood was when I started Elementar school at Clendenin. I mostly remember how I wanted to help friends or people that I could when i was younger but as a kid you really could not do that to well. As i grew up that feeling still was there but at this time I just felt like being an architect. Everything changed when I was in middle school and around the time Halo Reach the Xbox game came out. I was at a friends house playing games late and lost track of time, it was 12 and way past my curfew. His parents had left but I did need to get back home so I left walking home.

The short answer to my race is white, but the truth is I am Swedish, Irish, English, Swiss and, of course, American. Race especially plays a part in my physical appearance which became apparent when I moved to El Paso. My physical identity in El Paso feels much different than where I was born and raised; Tampa, Florida. In El Paso, people constantly ask where I am from or if I am in the military. The way I speak has even converged to match the way people speak here. I love my adopted city and my identity continues to evolve with my changing environment.

There was one severe weather even that had happened during my childhood while growing up in the south tip of Texas. It is an experience I would never forget.

From what I can remember my life began in Houston. I was born in Charleston, West Virginia, but moved to Houston before I turned two. I have an older brother and an older sister. I grew up in the Clear Lake area, and stayed there until I finished high school. My family is Catholic, so my parents raised me to be a person that follows the rules and tries to adhere to a moral code. While living in Houston there were relatively strict rules when I was younger that have since faded away. For example, they used to limit drinking pop by only the family drink it on Fridays and Saturdays, and we were only allowed to drink three cans each day. Although they had pretty clear ideas on how we should act, there was not much open communication about politics.

It was time to take Micah to Nashville and get direction for our son. A few nights before we left I was up all night. I spent time seeking God about our situation. My heart was broken and my despair was without words, but God was there, and as always He directed me. He reminded me about the time when Miranda had the chicken pox. She was just over a year old and Micah had just turned three. Micah was determined he would not get them. I was positive he would. One day in the shower God moved on my heart to pray Micah would not get the chicken pox. I felt it was crazy to ask God to keep Micah from the chicken pox. As far as I was concerned, chicken pox was a part of childhood. After all everybody gets them. God continued to impress

During summer break in august I went there with my grandma.some people might get a plane vasue the trip is so long but for us we drove down.It took us 3 to 4 days to finally get to where we needed to be going.It takes along time to get there only cause from driving so long you will need to rest so we went to a hotel every night and then we got something to eat for breakfast and dinner.

Our company, Eli-Gar LTD. are the parent company of Gold’s Gym of South Texas and have been in the fitness industry since 2005. We have focused our growth in North Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley, however, in recent years our group have come to the realization that Laredo is a very different city from what it was 11 years ago. In the past, many businesses may not have deemed it financially responsible to invest their money in an underdeveloped area such as South Laredo, but times have changed and we feel that South Laredo deserve all the amenities and services that may currently only be offered in North Laredo.

Living in the Rio Grande Valley for most of my life, I’d have to say I was raised in a very loving environment. My family members were never too far away from us, either being directly across the border or being a mile or two away from my house. The thing is is that everything seemed so close, yet so far. Family was close, but everything else was a lot farther, meaning that I’m no stranger to 7 hour flights or forty-five minute drives.

This road trip to Dallas, Texas has been sensational, and after five days of visiting family and twenty-two hours in the car, the adventures are still not over. The day after we arrived in Dallas, August 1, was my brother’s 9th birthday, so my family and I purchased and savored blue ice cream cake with both chocolate and vanilla ice cream in the middle, went to IHOP, and after rummaging through the menu, ordered breakfast foods, inclusive of chocolate chip pancakes, delectable golden hash browns sprinkled with salt, crispy bacon, and perfectly brewed hot chocolate with just a squirt of whipped cream on top. Because Texas is sultry in August, the temperature reached over 100 degrees every day, so my family had to find fun ways to cool down

I just entered 9th grade in Hampton Bays High School. I enjoy playing soccer and I love photography, I think that it’s such a beautiful art. Before I came to Hampton Bays I was from East Hampton. Entered Hampton Bays towards the end of 8th grade. I learned a lot about transferring schools. I learned in many ways from negative to positive. People would always tell me that people in Hampton Bays were nice that I should be happy. That just entered from one ear and left right through the other. Now I have started to learn that I should be happy about starting a new chapter in my life. Because moving from place to place doesn't always have to be towards the negative, it can always be towards the positive. I think that everyone who has taken part of my journey in my life is part of who I am. People that I am close with, or not and just have only spoken to them once. I learn from them knowing what is right and what is not. No matter who the person is I learned something about them. That’s what I think makes me who I am, learning from others.