I have faced many challenges in my life that I have had to overcome, many heartaches and many rainy days, all of which have made me a stronger person. In this essay, I will tell you my story. On May 19, 1992 at 6:01am, I was born into this world, sick and expected to die. My mother had a group B strep infection that was passed onto me through her 26 hour labor. The doctor told my parents to prepare for the worst. But against all the odds, I beat it. The doctors were astonished when I made a full recovery almost on my own, overnight. I was deemed a miracle by my family and by my doctors. From then on, everyone in my family knew I was destined for greatness.

When I reached three years of age, things began to sour between my parents and my mother left me and my father for a life of adventure. Needless to say, I was brokenhearted, and all my father and I had was each other.  My dad did pretty well raising a three year old at only twenty-one years of age. I grew up with a passion for music and the original Star Wars trilogy, which we watched nearly every week. My mom made contact with me once again when I was eight, shortly after my father remarried. She wanted to apologize and be part of my life again, which was hard for me to understand at such a young age. She began calling and sending letters every week and soon moved to my hometown to be a bigger part of my life.

When I got to High School, I got involved with a prescription drug called Adderall, or as some might call it, prescription crack.  I struggled with my addiction in silence, because no one knew about it but me and my dealers. I landed myself in some pretty bad situations and in some violent relationships. After a particularly bad run-in with one of my boyfriends, I decided to change things for the better, and within a month, I was clean.

In 2010 I met my fiancé, and got involved in a whirlwind romance that neither of my parents approved of, being young, I rebelled and got seriously involved  and fell in love. In May of 2010, I became pregnant with a baby girl. I was completely taken by surprise and was terrified when I found out. Instead of aborting my child, I kept her and moved in with my fiancé. We worked hard to make ends meet but, we couldn’t get enough to support our family on our own. So I decided to apply for college a make a better life for me and my family.

Life is hard, life is long, and it is full of disappointments and heartache, but I would never trade my life in for anything. My experiences, my turmoil, my obstacles, have made me who I am today. Why would I fix something that isn’t broken? My life has made me strong and for that, I am grateful.