I had a troubling childhood, with my biological father incarcerated for the abuse he inflicted upon me and my family. My biological mother was not able to care for me or my siblings and we were passed around family to family. I had knowledge of what I wanted my future to not be. I did not want to be a mother that would ever give up on her children, I did not want to be a woman that gave a man too much power, and I did not want to be another statistic. I wanted to be more than the life I witnessed as a child, I wanted to be better in all aspects than what people expected of me. I remember that before Stephanie, who I refer to as my mother, was given full custody of me, I experienced living in numerous homes both in and out of my state. From the age of 6 years old, until I was 9 years old, I was told by other adults that I would amount to nothing, that I would end up like my mother or choose a man like my father. In every home I was placed in, I was told this, until I met my mother, Stephanie.
Stephanie is a blue-collar single African American woman that saw a battered child, neglected and rejected by her own family, and took it upon herself to adopt me into her life. She is what motivates me to do anything in life and she is the person that taught me to never let my past define my future. She was also rejected by her family, along with her mother, for being African American. My grandmother was shunned and forced out of her family’s life when they discovered she was a single Caucasian mother to an African American baby. My grandmother’s family was old-fashioned, for a better choice of words, and they still believed in certain customs and ways. Even though my mother was raised in an environment that expected her to fail she, prevailed and is now a Lieutenant for Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, a mother, a grandmother, and an independent woman.
I want to help my community, I want to be an amazing mother, I want to save lives, and I want to be a first responder just like my mother. I intend to serve as a first responder in the medical career as a nurse, instead of being a police officer like her. I never had the opportunity to look that far ahead in my childhood, I was only trying to survive the next day until I met her. By then, I was so infatuated with my mother that I never looked within my heart but only saw hers and mirrored that. It was not until I had my own family that I did some self-reflection and self-exploration to find a career that reflected all my goals and passions. I felt as though it was too late to go back to school and pursue a dream career at the age of 24, but it was my mother that motivated me to go back. She reminded me that when she was around that age, she was also going against the judgment of others by adopting a 9-year-old daughter when she was said to be too young. I know my children will face this problem one day, questioning a decision because of social acceptance, age, skills, and means. I would want them to be able to remember the lineage they are stemming from, strong individuals surpassing all odds and expectations to accomplish dreams.
