Family Comes First

Chapter Three: Write a narrative from your school experience that encapsulates an important lessons you and perhaps other were able to learn. How did/has this experience shape(d) you?

Family Comes First: Being in school, generally in high school. I have learned many valuable life lessons. As an adult now, when I drive by a school bus stop, I always see a bunch of kids standing around as if they were the coolest thing since sliced bread. I was once one of them. Once you graduate from high school, none of that “you’re cool,” “he’s not so cool” really matters any more. The cliques that once roamed the halls are blended in with one another. You tend to make new ones as you travel through life. “Being cool” does not really matter anymore. About 85% of your “friends” were probably not your friend to begin with. By now that should not even matter, because you have learned to realize that you will grow out of your friends’ kind of the way you grow out of your favorite pair of jeans. I do have friends, but my life revolves around my family. I will instill this lesson in my children. Friends come and go but family sticks together. (Word Count: 175)

Loss of A Loved One

Chapter Two: Write a memory of a family event or scene that had an impact on your growth and development. Think about the importance of the vent, and what you learned from it that stays with you.

Loss of a Loved One: I was raised without a father. The only father figure I had growing up was my mother’s brother. Mateo ‘Marty’ Gonzales. I was fourteen years old, and his death came to a shock when he was forty-one. I was forced to know the feeling of losing a loved one. His death was all too sudden; I was able to use his death to become close to my God. I truly believe that God was the one to help me get through this tough difficult time. Almost ten years has passed since his passing, and I still somehow find it hard to believe that I will never feel his hugs again; I know that everything will be okay because God would not give me anything I cannot handle. My grandmother endured a lot of pain, due to his passing. As a mother of a two-year-old little boy, and a soon to be mother of a little girl, I cannot imagine losing my child. From his sudden death, I learned to cherish every single moment, and to keep my loved ones close. I also learned to live each day as its last, because tomorrow is never promised. (Word Count: 195)

Police Officer

Chapter One: Write the memory of a childhood event that recounts a story related to your own identity as a boy or a girl and a moment of realizing gender differences. Think about the importance of the event, and what you learned from it that stays with you today.

Police officer: In kindergarten, my mother always dressed me up as a real, girlie girl. Always wearing a bow, or wearing pretty, colorful scrunncis, dolled up in lacey socks and wearing dresses. Somehow, I was never the true definition of “girlie.” I was not a tomboy, but I loved hanging out with the boys. I remembered we had to do a project, and draw what we wanted to be when we got older. Before we got to drawing my teacher asked us, I so proudly said, “An Astronaut.” My teacher being her not so charming self-singled me out and asked if I wanted to choose a more suitable career for a woman like a teacher. Never in my life have I considered a career in teaching, though I loved playing school with my stuff animals. I remember very quietly saying, “no, how about a police MAN?” I remember the whole class laughing. I remember feeling so embarrassed. This is when I realized that I was a GIRL. Having the amazing mother that I have, she taught me that whatever a boy can do, a girl can do better. I am currently enrolled in Criminal Justice and aiming to become a detective. I will graduate in June and plan on entering in the police academy this fall. Some things do not change. (Word Count: 219)