to become a Nurse/Doctor.
My mother was born on September sixth, 1973. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She was the middle child in the family. My mother was the peacekeeper, but it was for her parents. Growing up her father worked two jobs and still somehow made time to make sure to spend time with his children. He made sure he had every game off, he did this because it gave him the opportunity to spend time with his children, and let them do something they loved. He also would take his children to school in the morning, before he went to work. To some people, they would say yeah that’s normal, but to me, a father giving up his free time just to watch his kids have fun, and making sure they get to school safe every day, that’s true love. To me, the little things mean more than the big things. My mom told me that she was very grateful for everything he did. He also was the one to make sure the chores were done, before any of them could leave to hang with their friends. Her father was the type of person, where if you don’t do what he tells you the first time, or if you left one fork in the sink, you would get bent over the coffee table and beaten with a belt. To some people, they would think this was child abuse, to me it’s called a lesson you will never forget. To me, he sounded like a man who worked hard who wanted his kids to grow up respectful and wanted the house looking nice. Some people say opposites attract, my mom’s mom was a complete opposite than my mom’s father.
My mom’s mother suffered from anxiety and depression. She has never had a job since she has been with her husband, because back then the mother stayed at home and cooked and made sure the kids were taken care of. When she had her last kid, my mother’s brother, my mother's mom suffered so much after, she attempted suicide by overdosing on painkillers. After that, my mother was told that she was placed in a mental hospital for three weeks. After the three weeks, she came back, but my mother said that she knew that the three weeks did not help her because when she came back her attentions were worse than before, but it wasn’t just drugs. She came back with a gambling addiction. My mother thought that she went to a mental hospital but instead she actually spent some time with her drug using friends. My mother found out by her older sister telling her where she actually went. On top of the gambling addiction she suffered from a symptom of hoarding, but it was with food. One time my mom’s mom went to buy food for the house, she left with one hundred and fifty dollars and came back with no money, but a bag full of candy and an enormous amount of gambling tickets. To some people, they would say that that’s not a lot of money, but back then one hundred and fifty dollars was a lot. When my mother or her siblings would ask her mom for a candy bar, she would strike them across the face and would tell them that if she wanted them to have one she would have asked them if they wanted one. My mother’s parents were never poor, due to her father always working. But due to her, there were sometimes where they lived paycheck to paycheck. My mom, her sister and her brother eventually were forced to move in with their Uncle and Aunt due to her father having to pick up another job due to going into debt due to his wife’s addictions and due to him divorcing her.
When my mom was eighteen she moved out due to being pregnant, with my older brother. She moved into a three-bedroom apartment with her older sister and four guys and her boyfriend at the time. My mother would walk to work every day to work due to them not having a vehicle at the time and they needed money to pay for the kid they were going to have. Eventually, my mother had enough money saved up that they eventually moved into their own apartment. It was a two bedroom apartment closer to her job. When my mother’s father found out that she was pregnant and was living with her boyfriend, he told my mother that she needed to give her child up for adoption due them not being married and because she was only eighteen. My mother told him that she would never ever give her child up not even if the world depended on it. When my grandpa was told this by my mother, he told her that he will not accept her as her daughter unless she would give him up for adoption. My mother still refused. My mom would rather lose a foot than losing a child, due to her father’s wishes. After giving birth to my brother Johnathon, my mother was the happiest she has ever been. She eventually moved out of Arizona and moved to Iowa due to it being cheaper to live in Iowa than it was in Arizona.
When my mom came to Iowa she then married her boyfriend, which she would have two more children and a miscarriage with. I think after the miscarriage my mother became more distant with my father. Eventually, my father joined the army and came back with PTSD. He became physically abusive towards my mother. My mom remembers him trying to suffocate her with a pillow while she was sleeping next to him. She remembers the only way she got him off of her was giving him a swift kick in the groin. She also remembers him getting drunk one night and kicked her down the steps while she was carrying me. That was the final draw for her. She tried to hold the marriage together because she wanted it to work, but it just didn’t. After going through two divorces and having two more children, she found another man who she knew back when she was in high school. She eventually got with him and he eventually became her husband. He worked one job and was raised to always put food on the table and to respect children’s choices no matter how stupid they sound. He is an amazing father and has taught my mother a lot. He also has encouraged my mother to go back to school and right now she is getting her GED due to my mom dropping out because she was pregnant. She also got her CNA and eventually wants to become an RN.
To me, my mother has taught me that life is crazy. Life will take you on weird journeys and you are just going to have to do it. She has also taught me that love comes when you least expect it. She also has taught me that no matter what we go through we can always talk to her and no matter what. She says she will do what is best for us no matter how hard it is or how long it will take. My mother is a strong woman and was raised with hardship, bet she persevered and became an this amazingly strong women, that I get the opportunity to call mom. No matter what I go through I know she will always have my back and I will always have her back no matter what the situation is.
The second person I am going to talk about is my grandma.
She was born on November nineteenth, 1956. She was born in Iowa. She was raised by her two loving and compassionate parents. Her father was a banker and her mother was an owner of a market where people sold their good at. My grandma had three siblings. She had one brother and two sisters. They were raised in a beautiful home. When my grandma hit the age of eighteen she eventually found the love of her dreams and had two kids with him. One was a boy and one was a girl. The boy eventually becomes my dad. The girl eventually becomes my aunt. My grandma worked at a metals place for two years. She then became a CNA. Then became an LPN. She eventually divorced her husband due to him cheating on her with another woman and getting the other girl pregnant. My grandma said she was not mad at him, she loved him but was just disappointed in his decisions. She eventually took care of her two children by herself. My grandma found out when her daughter was sixteen she was using drugs. My grandma made her go to a rehab for drug abuse. She was gone for six weeks for it. She came back good. She didn’t want to do drug and was very happy that her mom put her through that. After a couple years later my Aunt became pregnant with her first child. My grandma allowed them to live with her. After a couple of years she became hooked back on drugs but this time it was worse, my grandma tried to put her back in a rehab but because she was an adult she could not force her. After she hit the age twenty-three she was pregnant again with her second child. She was still using drugs until three months before she had to give birth. My grandma still allowed her to live under her roof knowing that she was still doing drugs and was pregnant. My grandma eventually had enough courage and kicked her out after she had her second child. It wasn’t because of the drugs, but instead, it was the way she abused my grandma mentally and my grandma had had
enough of it. Two years down the road she then allowed her daughter to come back and live in her basement due to my aunt being in an abusive relationship. Three years later my aunt becomes pregnant again and eventually finds out that her third child will be born with hearing problems. Her daughter's ears did not fully form as they should have due to her abuse relationship with drugs. Knowing this my grandma still allowed her to live with her. To me, this was a realization point in my life. No matter how hard it is to love someone, you still love them. My grandma has gone through a lot of things, which have made her become the amazing person she is today. My grandma became an LPN because she had support from her family. The fact that she had to overcome some hard things in life, she still managed to work as an LPN every day, she was supposed to.
The last person I am going to talk about my step-father. He was born on June 22, 1965. He was born in Mexico. When he was four years old, his parents moved to the united states. He was one of eight children, but he was the oldest boy in the family. When he turned 20 he became a permanent resident. When his father passed away due to a head-on collision with another car, he was only 24 years old. Knowing that your father was only 46 and still had so much to live for, and just as a sudden as being here, he was taken away. I could never imagine having to bury my father, especially being so young. Due to him being the oldest boy in the family he took over as the father role in his family. He worked two jobs and still managed to go to school. He worked early morning helping farmers out and then would head to school. After school got out he would go work at his other job, which was dealing with produce at the grocery store. To know that he gave up his freedom for his family, that’s true love. Not a lot of people could give up their free time to help. I know it would be hard for me, but I would eventually do it.
At the age of 44, he met my mother. He wanted to get to know us as a whole and eventually they got married. After getting married, he wanted to become an actual citizen, so my mother helped him get his actual citizenship. To me, I thought he did it for himself, but in reality, he did it for us. He lived half of his life as a permanent resident and wanted to do something to show that he actually cared about us. My father is now a truck driver, but in a few years, he wants to see if he can become something in the medical field. I have learned a lot from him. One thing I will always remember is to treat everyone with the respect that you deserve. To me, these words will stick with me, through thick and thin, and for that, I am grateful for him. Another thing I have learned from him is that no matter how old you are, you are still capable of doing something great no matter what other people think. This gives me the biggest hope and happiness, because, I know I can mess up a lot but I still have so many years to make something in my life and I will never forget it.
To me, women tend to become better doctors/ nurses than men but that’s only because women have a tendency to be more caring than men. I also believe that men can become just as great as women depending on how they had to strive and become the person who they are today. It crazy that something as determination and perseverance can make your dreams become a reality. It’s also crazy how much you can learn from your loved ones. So when you have a chance to sit and listen, take it, because as little as listening could change your life. Men and women have to same possibilities in life, it just depends on which road you decide to take. It may be difficult but it makes it way worth it at the end.