Overcoming Obstacles That Changed My Life

Throughout life we face obstacles that changes us as individuals in way that leaves an indelible impact. My greatest obstacle occurred when my mother was deployed for nine months with the Army. During the nine months, my brother, who was twenty-two at the time, and an older lady who was a family friend were my primary caretakers. My father did not live with us so he was not a big factor while she was gone. My Mom is like a best friend to me. I talk to her about everything that happens in my life. It was difficult not having this connection with her for the nine months. The day that my Mom left I did not get to see her leave because I had to go to school. Saying goodbye to her that day was one of the hardest things I had to do. Just knowing I would not get to see her for the next nine months broke my heart in more ways than one. Her first couple of month was in the United States, so it was bearable. I still spoke to her everyday. Our meals became a challenge because she was the one that did the cooking. Our caretaker did not enjoy cooking, but we fended for ourselves. We founds ways to live without her that got us through all nine months.

We were dealing with our own problems separately. We argued often and left things unsaid. My brother was never home. He was coping with her being gone in a different way than I did. Personally, I dealt with it by writing down how I felt whenever I got angry or upset. I had no one to communicate my emotions with. I talked to my Mom only twice a week, and we got to Skype once every two weeks. I was not going to waste the little time I had to talk to her talking about what was going wrong. Especially knowing she would have felt bad for