Personal Narrative: How My Mom Changed My Life

When I was in high school, I did not apply myself like I would have liked. I was more focused on boys, friends, and what I was doing later that day. Don’t get me wrong, I was an average student, but I know I had more in me than I actually gave. They say it is a time to prepare you for life, but high school can’t teach you a lesson like trial and error. I had my oldest daughter, Natalie, when I turned 21. For most, that is the time people go out and find themselves. Being a single mom, I realized it was time for me to grow up. When I was 23, despite my mom’s warning, I married my husband after knowing him only a short while. Little by little I started seeing behavior changes in this man I was so madly in love with. Between the fights and the

I’ll just stick it out. And then I found out I was pregnant. 5 months along, my emotions were all over the place. One day the arguments had finally gotten the best of us. It escalated to more than just emotional abuse and charges were filed against him. My daughter and I moved out and we filed for divorce. Back to square one. I started school in the fall trying to prepare myself for what struggle was coming. In January, my youngest daughter Kayla was born, and my husband attempted to reconcile. Here I was with a new baby, a 4 year old and a part time job living with my mom. How bad could it really have been? Possibly I overreacted? So I decided to give this marriage another shot. But it turned out, I was definitely not overreacting. We relocated to Fruita, thinking this would help by getting away from “bad juju”. The next 2 years I found out more about myself than I ever thought possible. I started a wonderful new job with amazing people, living in a gorgeous house, seeing my beautiful kids play and grow. Sounds like a dream come true. My husband and I attended counseling, but it still didn’t seem to be working. My children had to hear me be called every name under the

I was so blessed to be able to see the light in my grandma’s eyes as she looked at her mother, her best friend, with such adoration and pride before she passed away. I used much of this time to reflect on my life, and how my children will see me when it’s my time to go. Do I want them to look at me and remember happy and smiling? Absolutely. Do I want them to remember mommy and daddy fighting everyday? Of course not. When I returned home I had worked up the courage to ask for a divorce, but things did not work out like I had planned. “How can you be so selfish and tear your family apart?” This is the question I was asked before it escalated into much more, very quickly. I decided to remove myself from the situation for the night and when night returned the following day, I was served with a restraining order restricting me from seeing my children or coming into my house. My husband had falsely reported me to the courts. 3 weeks. That was the amount of time I spent without seeing or talking to my children. I lived out of the bag I had grabbed when I left that night. I thought I had hit rock