Kristen

It takes a strong person to successfully pull him or herself up from a horrible relationship, even more when the relationship is with his or her parents. My hero and sister-in-law, Kristen, is a person who has brought herself from such a hardship.

Taken from her maternal parent as only a toddler, Kristen and her younger brother were adopted at the ages six and three. An elementary school teacher, along with her husband, took little Kristen and her brother, into their home and hearts. Many could believe that the situation would turn out to be delightful, but in Kristen's case, it wasn’t always so. Most, if not all relationships have their ups and downs, but Kristen and her brother seemed to have more of the downs. Kristen commented that she and her brother tried to run away three times and went to social services due to their mother’s actions but her adopted mother, being a school teacher, was not believed to have done the things her children accused her of. “The scariest time at my house, when I lived with my adopted parents, was when my brother was holding the broom the “wrong way” and my mom jerked the broom from him and started screaming and choking him over the sink and told me if I came over there she was going to kick me to death. I thought she was going to hurt him really bad, and right in front of me.” Kristen said this was a reason for fleeing.

Experiences like hers, starting from a young age, changes a person, even when they have someone to hold onto. Her brother, along with their adopted father are the two people who kept her in the environment she is living in. Wishing she was closer to her father before he took his life, Kristen was changed. Taking things which have been said to her, to the heart, is something that has changed her. She has tried to keep herself as close as she can to her loved ones. Even more so, she has tried to keep her three year old son out of the pain which she has suffered from her childhood.

Due to lack of money at the time, and being the young age of only sixteen when having her first child, her own little boy is growing up with someone he calls his Granny, one of Kristen's good friends. Kristen’s new daughter is living with her mother and father. Even through her work, Kristen has gone through plenty of rough times, which is expected when working as a waitress. She has been working for nearly a year and a half now, bringing in money to help support the four of them.

“I’ve had to grow up so fast, I know a lot about life and my attitude towards life has changed.” Kristen has taught me so much just through the stories of her childhood and has helped me understand some things which happen in life. Managing to make it as far as she has in her life, even when facing some of the horrors she has faced, has made her my hero, someone I can turn to when needed, someone I can trust, someone I can talk to, and best of all, someone I can look up to.