I come from a family of 5 in Hermantown (Duluth), Minnesota. My parents and two older siblings moved there when I was five years old, from a small town in Wisconsin, Iron River. When I was five, life as I knew it did a 360 and everything changed. I may have been young, but I will never forget the day that my parents sat me my brother and my sister down and told us that they were getting a divorce. I didn’t fully understand what was going on, but I knew that it was a big deal because we were all crying and hugging and my mom was explaining to me that “mommy and daddy are going to have separate houses now.” It took quite awhile for us to establish a new norm of living, but eventually we figured it out; we were at my mom’s house from Sunday nights
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She is one of my best friends, and she is my biggest supporter. For as long as I can remember, she has taught me to do things for myself. She never got remarried after the divorce (although she has a long term boyfriend), so she has always had the mentality of “you don’t need a man to do it for you.” This applies from around the house if something breaks or needs fixing, to mowing the lawn, or changing a tire; she taught me it all. She never graduated from college, so she has worked at Olive Garden as a server for the last 12 years. Working a minimum wage job plus tips for so long has been hard for her because she doesn’t make nearly as much as she would like to. One of the reasons that I look up to her so much is because she tries to not let this stand in the way for us. My mom is one of the hardest workers I know; when it comes to money, she has always been very smart about separating it all into categories such as: bills, groceries, etc. Although this doesn’t leave a ton of room for going out to dinner or movies, she has saved up enough to bring me and my siblings on vacation a couple different times. Having my mom be so money conscious has taught me to also be money conscious. I try to not spend money recklessly, because I know that in the end it isn’t worth …show more content…
She is three years older than me, so I have looked up to her for literally my entire life. My mom’s favorite story about us is that when I would cry as a baby, Mikala would pick me up and rock me while singing “You are my shunsine, my only shunshine” until I stopped. My sister and I have been attached at the hip for as long as I can remember; she was (and still is) my first best friend. Growing up with her definitely wasn’t always smooth sailing, we had our fair share of issues. She is the middle child, so she’s always been the most rebellious of us three kids. I don’t remember a time when she didn’t say exactly what’s on her mind, even if no one wanted to hear it, or it wasn’t very nice. To this day, we most often fight about me not standing up for myself when I have a problem with someone. She is more than willing to tell everyone what she thinks of them, while I avoid conflict and confrontation at all costs. Because of our differences, we make the perfect team; we can deal with anything that comes our way. My sister has taught me that I need to be able to speak up for myself so people don’t push me around, and I never realized how useful of a skill it is. Since I’ve moved down to college, I’ve started speaking up when I have an issue with someone, so that we can deal with it, rather than sweeping it under the rug and letting everything bottle
She is one of my best friends, and she is my biggest supporter. For as long as I can remember, she has taught me to do things for myself. She never got remarried after the divorce (although she has a long term boyfriend), so she has always had the mentality of “you don’t need a man to do it for you.” This applies from around the house if something breaks or needs fixing, to mowing the lawn, or changing a tire; she taught me it all. She never graduated from college, so she has worked at Olive Garden as a server for the last 12 years. Working a minimum wage job plus tips for so long has been hard for her because she doesn’t make nearly as much as she would like to. One of the reasons that I look up to her so much is because she tries to not let this stand in the way for us. My mom is one of the hardest workers I know; when it comes to money, she has always been very smart about separating it all into categories such as: bills, groceries, etc. Although this doesn’t leave a ton of room for going out to dinner or movies, she has saved up enough to bring me and my siblings on vacation a couple different times. Having my mom be so money conscious has taught me to also be money conscious. I try to not spend money recklessly, because I know that in the end it isn’t worth …show more content…
She is three years older than me, so I have looked up to her for literally my entire life. My mom’s favorite story about us is that when I would cry as a baby, Mikala would pick me up and rock me while singing “You are my shunsine, my only shunshine” until I stopped. My sister and I have been attached at the hip for as long as I can remember; she was (and still is) my first best friend. Growing up with her definitely wasn’t always smooth sailing, we had our fair share of issues. She is the middle child, so she’s always been the most rebellious of us three kids. I don’t remember a time when she didn’t say exactly what’s on her mind, even if no one wanted to hear it, or it wasn’t very nice. To this day, we most often fight about me not standing up for myself when I have a problem with someone. She is more than willing to tell everyone what she thinks of them, while I avoid conflict and confrontation at all costs. Because of our differences, we make the perfect team; we can deal with anything that comes our way. My sister has taught me that I need to be able to speak up for myself so people don’t push me around, and I never realized how useful of a skill it is. Since I’ve moved down to college, I’ve started speaking up when I have an issue with someone, so that we can deal with it, rather than sweeping it under the rug and letting everything bottle