In 1990 my parents owned a very successful dish garden business that they built from the ground up. We were living in Lake County at the time on 33.5 acres of beautiful property in a large house with 3 green houses surrounding it. My Mom was in charge of creating the dish gardens while my Dad maintained and delivered them all throughout Florida and Georgia. We lived a pretty luxurious lifestyle. We went on family vacations every year and there were many times my Mom would take us shopping at the mall around lunch time and she would not leave until the doors were closing for the night.
Times were good all around us until the economy took a hit. My parents business was no longer booming with business. They had to let their workers go and my Mom was forced to get a job with Publix because she married young and didn’t go on to college after high school. Sooner than later the bank would no longer let them borrow anymore money and they were forced to file bankruptcy. This was a devastating blow to our family. We eventually lost our beautiful home and we were forced to rent a small home in town from my Grandma. All of these events changed my parent’s relationship. They were no longer spending everyday together creating beautiful dish gardens they were now both working long hours apart in jobs they didn’t really enjoy. They began to fight and blame one another for all the mistakes they made along the way that eventually led to their bankruptcy.
We lost everything when we lost that business our house, income, happiness and family because my parent divorced shortly after the move. After my parents divorced my mom took my sister and I to live in an even smaller apartment where I actually had to share a room with my mom. I was now in middle school and I was sharing a room with my mom, this was very humiliating for me to experience. We lived right behind my middle school and instead of hopping the fence, because I of course had to walk with my mom always at work, I would instead walk around the entire block so that no one would see me coming from the apartment complex. I was so ashamed of what my life had become. I went from having it all to having nothing. As time passed my Mom was finally financially stable enough to buy a new home for us. She worked many long hours day and night to become a deli manager at Publix. With this promotion also came a few luxuries and we were able to start going on vacations again.
These experiences taught me to appreciate everything I have. I learned that in order to have nice things you have to work hard for them. I also learned that material items are not what matters in life because they can be taken away at any given time. What matters in life is working hard to earn a decent living to support your family. What my mom was able to do for my sister and I means so much to me now that I am older and have a family of my own. Her dedication and strength is what motivated me to graduate high school and continue on to college. Her highest level of education was a high school diploma and this made it very difficult for her to start over. My Mom encouraged my sister and me to be independent woman and to never rely on anyone to take care of us. Her message was to earn an education and get a job where you can take care of your family yourself.
Now that I am working at Embry-Riddle and earning a Master degree I am in the process of completing this dream she had for me. I am able to take care of myself as well as my husband and child and as I continue pursuing this degree I am opening up even more opportunities for career advancements in the future. I have learned that in order to have success you have to earn it. These experiences have kept me very humbled. Working hard for everything I have has also made me appreciate it so much more than when everything was just handed to me. I plan to continue pushing myself throughout life the way my mom pushed herself every long day and night. I have a greater purpose in life than just being rich I want to accomplish a lifetime of achievements. I plan to graduate with my degree and look for the next opportunity to grow wherever that may be. I want to inspire others around me to push themselves to accomplish these difficult challenges as my Mom did for me.
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