Runnin Down A Dream-Personal Narrative

was present at home, my mother attempted to keep the peace. Emotionally, he would erupt in angry over the slightest things. At times, my father subjected violence against my brother and I. He physically abused my brother and emotional abused me. I recall that one night, when I was seven years old, my brother and father were arguing. In a rage, my father hit my brother repeatedly and once he was done hitting him. He threw my brother outside on the porch. I remember that night because it was freezing. My brother had no shirt on and my father locked him out. I cried and so did my mother. After ten minutes of my father blocking the door he eventually walked away and unlocked the door.

I came home one day to see both of my parents sad. As a third grader, I didn’t completely understand at the time, but my father had been laid off from the job he’d had since his teenage years. My father had started at the age of eighteen as a student worker at Southern Miss, and after years of hard work he had been promoted to the manager of shipping and receiving on campus. When the recession struck, the need to save money resulted in his position being terminated. My father was without a job. My father loved that job and when he lost it, he changed. He found a new love, alcohol. He let his love for alcohol become an addiction. He would do anything for alcohol; he even had secret stashes when my mom had removed all the prior alcohol from the house. Quickly my father became a violent drunk and began to routinely beat my mother and me. He became unstoppable; no person could get him back on track so my mother, in an attempt to keep me safe, removed him from the house. Even my mother’s best efforts weren’t always enough, as my father constantly broke into our house. One day my mother and I came home and my father was waiting in our den with a gun. We walked in, he pointed the gun at us, and then back at himself. He couldn’t decide to kill my mother, himself, or just all of us. He had more hatred in his eyes

An event that clearly marked my transition from childhood to adulthood was the truly eye-opening experience of attending a Kairos retreat. For those unfamiliar with Kairos, it is a four-day religious retreat in which you and a small group of students come together to more learn about God, themselves, and others in a setting that completely removes you from the daily distractions and stresses of the outside world. Everyone, including myself, was able to share the personal stories about the struggles that they have faced and are continuing to face every day of their lives and offer support to others that may be going through similar things. We laughed together, we cried together, and we created strong relationships and friendships with people, some of which we hadn’t spoken a word to or even known by

Prior to writing this essay, I sat down with my mom to come up with ideas on stories that have made me who I am today. That is when I realized I have made more personal growth in the past four years of my high school career that I have before this period of time. I am ending my high school career with more knowledge than I ever expected.

So when being asked to discuss an event that marked my transition from childhood to adulthood, this is the story I want to give. Before this had happened I didn’t have a job and wasn’t responsible enough to even think about having a job. But when it did happen it showed me that I had to make that transition in less than a week to get ready for the job I had been dreaming about every time I went into that store with my grandmother as a

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

My earliest moments of memory are of me in a bar. I never sat in that stool again after one particular night. My mom “buzz kill” came in the bar and flipped. My dad was very intoxicated, and my mom was not having it. She cursed my dad out, got in his face, and was out. Dragging me out of the bar with her I remember my dad chanting, “I’m free. I’m free”. My mom cried a lot that night. Her tears were not shed in front of me but in the shower. She would cry in that shower for a long time, and then come sleep with me. I slept with her up until the age of around 10. I would be so upset with my dad the day after he spent hours at the bar, but I always apologized to him for being mad. My mom and him had “words”, and he sobered up… kind of. There was a lot more to my dad’s alcoholism, but my mom shielded me from a majority of it. After my dad drastically changed his life, we got hella close. We bonded even more after my mom started poppin’ pills. “I’m waiting for this cough syrup to come down.” She took pain pills, sleeping pills, my grandma’s pills, my grandpa’s pills, or basically any pills she could. I didn’t understand it, I still don’t. I still think its because I wasn’t good enough for

My story begins when I was in my late teens as the door closed, the lock latched, and I stood there with my hands in my pocket shocked. Tears ran down my dark circled eyes, I looked to my left, then to my right, looking for a place to hide. The weight of the world was on my chest, and suffocating seemed inevitable as the seconds dragged on. That is when the adolescent psychiatrist arrived. It had been 5 nights since I last slept, 3 days since eating, and yes, I had just been voluntarily committed into a mental health outpatient facility. Until these moments, I had never really thought about my family history of mental illness but it soon plagued my mind. I remember my dad’s alcoholism and depression,

It was on a rainy, cold winter day when my life suddenly changed. What marked my transition from childhood to adulthood was when I became a mother. I instantly felt like an adult when I gave birth to my baby girl, Khloe Noel Williams, because I had someone to care for.

The event that marked my transition from childhood to adulthood is when I was accepted into the People to People Student Ambassadors Program. This program was started by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 for a lifelong crusade for peace that everyday citizens wanted a more peaceful world and could achieve it more effectively without government interference. The People to People Student Ambassadors Program progressed into an academic

Instead of staying in the secluded town I have always lived, I went on a trip, through a school function, that took me outside of the country I have never left before. I truly believe it was the first time I actually experienced another culture. Also, sleeping in cabins with people I did not know was a new experience but it was enjoyable. I feel as if I have transitioned into an adult through this trip. I acquired the skills on how to meet and live with new people quickly, and how to live on my own without being dependent on my parents. Also, I feel that I have seen more of the world and can understand others’ thoughts and beliefs. Now I have attained the necessary components to be an

Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or

My trip to Australia with the People to People Student Ambassador Program in the summer of 2013 is the event I would consider to have marked my transition to adulthood. It was my first trip outside of the country as well as my first trip without anyone who I knew prior to the trip. There were a few others in the program that were from my area, but a majority of the 42 students who traveled with us were from New York. I spent 20 days Traveling along the Eastern coast of Australia, it was the longest trip I have been on to date. I learned many things about the culture of Australia and got to know many new people. I was always a little shy and not very independent, but this trip pushed me pretty far outside of my comfort zone and I loved every

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

My father's abusive and alcoholic lifestyle was not what I think a normal dad's should be. My father drank at least a case of beer a day. By the time he turned forty-five the combination of stress and his lifestyle caught up with him. He suffered a heart attack, but surviving this heart attack only caused more abuse. Depression set in and for the next year and a half, he became meaner and more physically abusive than ever. I was not allowed to speak with my mouth full at the dinner table. If I did my father would slap me. After his heart attack, he would find reasons to make me talk. My father would wait until I took a bite of food, and then he would ask me a question. If I answered him, I spoke with my mouth full, so I got slapped. If I didn't answer him, I didn't "Speak when spoken to," so I got slapped either way. All day and night I would sit in my room just to avoid crossing him in the house. If I was unlucky enough to pass him, any conversation we had turned into a two-hour Nazi lecture followed by a street fight in my living room. His lectures consisted of him screaming two inches from my face, and bringing up things that happened years earlier. I can't