Jessica Armstrong Sociology 111 Term Paper Sociology and Me As a child and most of my adolescent years, both of my parents were my primary care takers. My mother worked in an industrial society where the labor union was present, making air craft engines for Rolls Royce. My father has always drove some kind of truck, whether it be a semi or a dump truck. My mom usually worked long hours and most of the time seven days a week so my dad was home with us from the time we got out of school until bed time. I am the oldest of three. I have one sister two years younger and one brother 4 years younger.

We share the same mother but at the age of 4 my dad adopted me. My father was extremely leniant with what my brother, sister and I usually done. But when mom was home she was more strict, had a lot of rules, and made sure we all did our best in school. Growing up with my brother and sister we all had quite the imagination, and always were close. When I hit my upper teen years my brother and I lost our strong bond, but my sister and I have remained in a close relationship. From kindergarten to 5th grade I attended Indianapolis Public School # 88.

My sixth grade year my family moved to Cloverdale, Indiana because my parents wanted us out of IPS schools. From 6-12th grade I attended Cloverdale Middle/High school. When I was in the 7th grade a lot of things had started affecting my life. I was diagnosed with with epilepsy (seizures) and the only reason Dr’s found it is because my school thought I was on drugs, because I was constantly losing things, forgetting, and getting lost. By my 8th grade year I began missing a lot of school. I had constant muscle and joint pain, it started becoming a regular thing.

My parents got to the point where they thought I was faking so they took me to the Dr. and told them what had been going on and how long it has been going on. The Dr. wanted to run a number of tests. When my results came back I was then diagnosed with lupus, fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. My freshman year I was tested for learning disabilities. I passed many tests but still qualified for extra help from the school because of my low English and Math scores. So for tests, quiz’s, ISTEP, or reading I had a class I could go to for extra help.

My sophomore year of high school I have few memories of consisting school. I had found and met my biological father at the age of fifteen for the first time. My parents had also been going through a lot. Constantly arguing and neither could be faithful to the other, I had ran away and made it to Sarasota, Florida I was gone a total of 12 days. Upon my return everything went smooth for a while then, my parents went their separate ways. My junior year I was still coping with a lot of family problems and my peer group in school, it began to put a lot of stress and pressure on my school life.

I was constantly getting in fights, getting bad grades, not doing school work, not turning in home work it started to become a problem. The school principal set up a conference with my parents and asked me to attend. I can still remember the cruel things he said to me that day. He told me I was nothing but a waste of time, that I was wasting my time going to school because I was a failure, that I would never make something of my life and literally begged me to drop out of high school. As many teenagers would love would love to quit school that was not me! I had dreams, goals, I wanted to be someone!

I then applied for Alternative School. I was accepted the first time. Three hours a day, four days a week. I worked at my own pace and could take as many classes as one time that I wanted. With my parents both working and going through a divorce, playing a role in my school life never really happened. My mom did began helping me a lot once accepted into the Alternative Program. I also became pregnant with my son my junior year. At 17 years old my parents were not pleased with me but they accepted it. They made it clear that just because of pregnancy I would not give up in school, and I would ork twice as hard to keep my grades up. At 23 weeks of pregnancy I began to have a lot of complications. Between pre-term labor and border line gestational diabetes, I was put on strict bed rest, having no choice but to miss school. My teacher was very helpful and got all of my absences excused and let me do all of my work from home. While on bed rest my sons father was supposed to be working and never came back. His parents had to call me and tell me he “found some one else” and did not want me nor his unborn child. 35 ? long weeks went by and on December 19, 2006 my water broke.

I could not drive and my parents were at work both an hour and half away, so my grandma had to come get me. While on the way to my house in the country she got lost. She finally arrived and took me to the hospital. Upon arriving I was dilated to 2 ? and still no contractions. Th Dr. decided to induce labor and started me on petocin, at 10:30 pm. On Dec. 20th my contractions began, I was in labor for 27 hours. I began to push. While pushing my oxygen level was getting low and the baby’s heart rate was dropping, the Dr’s performed and emergency c-section.

Kaleb Addison was born at 1:20 am on December 21st, 2006, weighing 6 pounds 12 ounces. We were both released from the hospital on Christmas Eve. After the new year I returned to school, passing all of my classes with nothing lower than a B. When my son was three months old I learned I was pregnant again. I was so scared. I had been with the father since I was 3 months pregnant with Kaleb but, I wasn’t sure I was ready for another baby so soon. My family and I are strongly against abortion , but with recently turning 18, being a senior in high school and having a three month old baby, I was unsure of what to do.

I decided to schedule an appointment for an abortion and kept my new pregnancy a secret. On the day my abortion was scheduled I could not go through with it. I knew I would be killing not only a human, an innocent child who did not ask to be brought into this world but I would be killing a part of me. I kept my baby, and knew having two small children I would have to work extra hard and graduate. I kept my pregnancy a secret for three months then told the father. On May 26th , 2007 I graduated from Cloverdale High School and received my diploma.

At six months of my pregnancy I got married to the father of my unborn second child. We lived with his parents while saving for our own home. We were saving to buy or rent a home when our car was totaled. We had the decision of a new car, or saving for a home. We really needed our own place, so my mother said she would co-sign for us a car and pay the down payment as long as we promised to make every payment on time. After 3 months of marriage, his true self began to show. He would not hold a job, the mental, physical and verbal abuse, his alcoholism and infidelity.

I began to move back home. By time the first car payment was due he did not have the money to make it and had the nerve to call and ask my mother to borrow the money. By that time I had packed my bags and moved back home. My daughter was born December 3, 2007 at 7:38pm weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces. I named her Brookelyn Jade. After her father seen her he confessed of his false consciousness, and wanted to try and work things out with our marriage. I knew deep down things would not work but, decided to try for my daughters sake. When Brookelyn was two months old I left her father for good.

He has not seen her since. After leaving my husband I had no choice but to find a job. No one was hiring and and the places that were hiring could not work with my schedule or did not pay enough to raise 2 small children. I then decided to do something I never in my life thought I would do. I began dancing. My family did not like it , but I explained to them I made the choice to get pregnant and it was my responsibility to take care of my children. I also told them sometimes parents make “bad choices” and this would be one of my bad choice’s. But sometimes bad brings good.

While dancing I felt like I had lost a lot of self-respect but in my mind I knew I could not find another job making a minimum of $400. 00 every night. A lot of men and women too, paid to see me dance, and wanted private dances. Many of the men wanted a lot more than a dance or would want to touch and feel, but that was strictly against my rules. I had a paid body guard that made sure these kind of things did not happen, and made sure I was safe at all times. On Friday June 13, 2008 I met my fiance. He was not like most of the men that went there.

He did not want want to constantly touch me, or ask me to do things that other men did ask me. He really didn’t speak to me at all, I had to go sit with him and I began a conversation. He was so much different, so different than any other man I had been with. It was unlike me to have a conversation with some one that long in one night. It was really unlike me to offer him my phone number, not knowing him and especially in my line of work. The very next night we went to dinner and a movie. After two weeks of being together I quit my job, and never looked back. We also moved in together.

We have been together since. As reaching adulthood, I have learned many valuable lessons. I started a family at an early age in life. I would not change anything for a very second. I have not accomplished many things, my few short years I’ve had of being an adult , but I have my dignity. At the age of 19 I applied to Ivy Tech. I am currently working on my biggest goal of becoming an RN. I am now 20 years old, my fiance and I are in the process of buying our first home. Brookelyn just turned 2 on Dec. 3rd, and Kaleb will be 3 on Dec. 21st. Writing this paper has made me realize how fast things in life happen.

And whether or not your really making the right choices. I’m only human and I’m doing what I think is the very best. Sociology is an important part of our everyday lives. In fact, sociology is how we live everyday at home and in society. I learned society has a huge impact on my life and those around me. I learned that personal issues can manifest into a social issue that affects the whole society as a whole, just as the major social issues can affect my personal life. Overall, writing this paper has benefited me to look closer at society and see how different issues affect me in my life.