My Early Life Chapter Summaries

Chapter One
Early life, growing up in a happy and healthy home: Reality bite

This is the story of a young immigrant woman experiencing early womanhood and motherhood, while still a daughter and sister shaped by her family. The story to be told is how she dealt with many great life events; a walk though the hurdles and experiences that led to the person she is today. Discoveries and disillusions filled her young life, but faith and religion along with the great psychological strengthened foundation built within her by her mother gave her the strength to try hard, strive and overcome obstacles. Life is not what it seems and opportunities come in all different ways, shapes and forms. Overcoming negativity and learning to make positive out
of negative had its gratification and for that she is thankful. Claribel, the fourth of five children, was a quiet and shy scrawny little girl. She loved playing with her sisters. Home life was just happy- living with Mom, Dad, three sisters and a brother. Growing up modestly in her native Dominican Republic was magical she did not have a worry in the world, but to play and learn, all while being brought up in a loving and supportive home. It literally seemed like the garden of Eden like in "Genesis 2:8 Now the Lord have planted an garden in the east, in Eden; and there he have put the man he formed." (http://www.biblestudytools.com/genesis/2.html), the garden represented our home and the man represented us-the family. Although Claribel was very reserved and did not have many friends, her mind was way ahead of herself, she always wondered about the reasons of things, the why and the how, her curiosity and sense of wonder were unstoppable. Her best past time was reading and doing calligraphy. The love and harmony distilled in the home was palpable, and one could only feel so lucky to be part of it, the love and nurture was like the daily bread: always there, always fresh, always warm. She wished her best friend could have a sweet and loving family like hers. But Claribel was looking through a two sided-mirror, and soon she will find out how a heart can get broken. "Mom when to visit her friend, but did not come back home in time for dinner" my aunt who lived with us, was worried and showed signs of despair; crying and talking on the phone, calling on people to come help, because she did not know what to do!!!
Dad stopped by the house and seemed pale, sweaty and very nervous, and for the first time he paid no attention to us, he left the house in a hurry- taking with him some of his belongings. Me and my four siblings were just kids, ages ranging between 13 to 5 years old with two years apart intervals, we knew something terrible happened but did not know what, but we were determined to find out. My Dad the perfect role model was having an affair with my Mother's best friend and neighbor , my mother caught them- she was irate, blinded by the deception and betrayal she snapped and attacked the lady leaving her almost dead. So the big commotion at the house was whether or not they will press charges and put my dear mother and throw her in jail. Neither my dad or the lady wanted to press charges, and due to the fact that my uncle had military connections, nothing happened to my mother ( this is very normal practice in Dominican Republic). We were exposed to such a unhealthy and dramatic family situation, this was a big SHOCK! coming from such a loving and caring family, obviously we all took my mother's side and attempted to cut Dad out of our lives, and much to our surprise my dear mother did not allow it, with her limited education, but great kindness and yes "psychology" she looked at us and asked " In what way did your father failed you?" and then she went on to said, " this is between me and him, and he is an excellent father and you must love him and respect him". She put her feelings aside to try to keep us free of resentments and frustration, she also apologized to us, for not having the control of her emotions and doing what she did, which she immediately regretted
it. Coming from a loving and religious family, going into living with divorced mother, with less resources and more problems, was a challenge for all of us, but my mother's constant lectures and life lessons, made us tough individuals, with great values, perseverance and determination. Resilience was what my mother was teaching us without even knowing it. As its definition says " Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors. It means "bouncing back" from difficult experiences." (http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx) This concept will become so paramount to me later in life. Life went on, our beautiful family was now without our beloved father whom we all adored, and we saw him less of him every day, although our mother insisted he did nothing to us, I personally could not help but feeling abandoned and rejected by the very same person I loved and looked up to. A few years later he migrated to United States of America and promised to us, he will petition and get us a green card, so could have a better opportunity in life.