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My Life Emily Torres FHS 1500 Individual project
Each person on this planet has a unique story, a series of events that steered them to where they are and shaped who they are. I have a story like everybody else. A catalyst of events that are the reason I am sitting in front of this computer, writing this paper at this very moment. Like most people there were some very tumultuous times in my life and some really fabulous times that I have drawn a personality from. In this paper I am going to dive into the pivotal events that relate to where I came from, where I am now and where I want to be in the future and how these events tie me to my culture, my community and my society as a whole.
I was born in August of 1982 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. My parents had lived there for about 10 years, but were in the middle of a divorce at this time, so my stay in Minneapolis was only about 2 weeks. We then moved back to Utah to be close to family. I am the youngest of five, and we are bookended by 2 half brothers from my father’s first and third marriages.
I grew up in east sugarhouse my father lived right up the street from my mother to make visitation easy, however I only saw him a few days a month. My mother went to nursing school after the divorce and my father was an airline pilot for Delta. Because of the nature of our family situation, I spent most of my time with an Aunt and my Grandmother, whom I was very close to. My siblings helped a great deal in raising me as well, which may or may not have been a good thing. My Grandma June
When we visited my dad we would often go to far way places, like Hawaii or the Cayman Islands. We were free to explore in these places. My brother and I would go on great adventures, picking coconuts, going seashell hunting and exploring a sunken ship. This was probably the happiest time in my childhood. I loved my time on the islands, and miss them a great deal. The smell and sound of the ocean still gives me a real sense of freedom.
The relationship between my parents was quite tumultuous and I can honestly say that I have never seen them speak more than two words to each other. I remember feeling different from my friends from a very young age because of this. I grew up in a predominantly LDS neighborhood, where very few households had single parents. In this culture and particularly our community having divorced parents was frowned upon, and my siblings and I were ostracized to a certain extent. For example, if someone got into trouble it was often blamed on the influence of my siblings and I. Kids would use us a scapegoats if they got into trouble.
In Jr. High I was exposed to a more diverse group of people, people who had living situations similar to mine. In the group of kids that I surrounded my self with most of us had broken or dysfunctional homes. We were “the lost boys” from Peter Pan, rambunctious and unsupervised. I had a lot of fun with these kids and felt as if I belonged, but we also got into a lot of trouble. At this point I had separated myself from my father completely and didn’t reconnect with him until I was 18. By the time I was in high school, I was still running with the same crowd. I was in that grey area of adolescence where I was making poor decisions and didn’t quite understand the full ramifications of what I was playing at. I have seen this pattern often in our society, even now with my own son, where kids seek other kids in similar situations. Especially living in Utah where we have a very distinct culture divide.
At about sixteen I came to the conclusion that I wanted to go to college and be successful. I worked in the office of a private school in exchange for tuition, so that I could get the education that I wanted. I graduated with a 4.0 GPA and went on to Westminster College.
In my first semester at Westminster I met a bad boy from Portland, Oregon, who was six years older that I. About two months into our relationship I discovered that I was pregnant. My two sisters and my mother all had children in their late teens, so following the tradition I decided to become a mother. My parents stopped paying for my college immediately and told me that I was on my own. I clung to my son’s father, who convinced me that college was a waste of time and money anyway. I had a $2000 debt to Westminster that my parents left unpaid, so that convinced me. The decisions that I made and the decisions that my parents made during February of 2001 were probably the most defining in relation to where I am today.
My son and I lived in the basement apartment of a friend of mine. He was also a single parent of two boys, we found ourselves having dinner together and helping with each other’s kids. After about a year of living as housemates, we fell in love and merged households. A year after we got married, Matt and I had a son, and less than a year later, a daughter. Life got a little complicated for all involved. According to statistics we did everything wrong in regards to creating a mixed family. However, it has worked pretty well for us. Our kids get along, and we get along, and we try not to put to much emphasis on the “step” thing. We are a family, and our kids have other families too.
I stopped working to be a stay at home mom to our big household. My husband encouraged me to start taking classes in the evening. I started really slow, only taking one class at a time, then worked my way up to full time. I have decided to apply to the occupational therapy program at the University of Utah, and am working my way toward that right now. I am pregnant with my fourth child (and final) and am hoping to be done with the OT program by the time this baby is going into school.
Our family size is not unusual for our culture or community. Some of my friends think that we are crazy to have so many kids and others have equally large families. For instance, my husband’s siblings all have several children. I suppose in our community the only thing that is different about us is that I go to school. Most of my friends went to college and got their degrees before having children. Cousins
My goals for the future are to continue to be an invested parent and raise a nice family. I would like to finish school and have a job that I love. I want to take my kids not only to all of the wonderful places that I have seen, but to show them even more of the world. I want to be a committed member of my community and hope to continue to respect all of the different cultures around me. I plan to be a productive member of society and leave a positive footprint on this world, through my children and my actions.
