In 2016, my dad left my mom with four kids to take care of. All of whom were under the age of 13. We moved in with my grandparents, and I watched my unemployed mother struggle to provide for me and my three siblings. After about four months of searching, my mom eventually found herself a job. This job though was low pay and she had to work long hours to make enough for our family. On top of all of this, my mom decided to go back to school and earn her degree. The combination of night classes and long work hours led me to resent my mom. I felt like she left me and my brothers behind, and the little time we did see her, she was too tired to do anything, so she sat on the couch and watched the TV. My hardworking, dedicated mother graduated in May 2020. After four years of hard work, I finally got my mother back. She had a better paying job and in turn had more time for me and my brothers. Because of my family's personal experience, I've always been pressured to do well in school. My mom didn't want me to make the same mistake that she did, dropping out of college, and have this negatively impact my future. At first this annoyed me, as it would be to any middle school student, but now I am grateful for that pressure. That pressure was what got me my 4.0 GPA and what placed me on the honor roll every semester of high school. That pressure and the discipline that I learned from it is what is going to drive me to perform well in college and in whatever field I choose to go into. As of right now, I see myself going into medicine. I know that this field is notoriously difficult and is a long path of schooling, but I am confident that the skills my mom taught me and the determination that she showed me will carry me far in this field. In the future, I will be working in a hospital, helping thousands of people throughout my career. Hopefully making a positive impact on patients, and on the families that I can help with my job. Even if this dream of mine does not come true, I still know that I will work hard in whatever I do and take my mom's lessons with me to the grave. One day, I know I will be telling my kids stories of my mom and teaching them the same lessons for success that she taught me.

During a time in my life when I felt tremendous guilt every time I spent money, my mom reminded me that I am still a kid and I should spend my money on enjoyable things until I need to spend my money on adult purchases like rent and bills. It didn't help me save money, but it definitely relieved a lot of the stress I felt watching the number in my savings account slowly drop. I am really grateful for this piece of advice because I know that when I am older I am going to need to spend large sums of money at once and I would've never been able to do that guilt-free without my mom's advice. She truly is my main financial advisor. I still have a lot of anxiety over spending money on "wants" instead of "needs", but now I am far less reluctant to spend money on "wants" that make me happy. Obviously, I will not be going out to the mall and dropping five hundred dollars every weekend because "my mom said I could". I still understand that keeping a budget and growing your savings are important. I am now much less stingy with my spending habits though, which I believe has made me a happier person and prepared me to spend money on things that I might not necessarily need, but that is satisfying for me. Scratching an itch if you will. This will help me in picking a college because I am ok with spending more money on a college that I may find more enjoyable.